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Frontispiece — Ellis ’ Germany. 

Charlemagne in his Cloister-School, 

(») 
















YOUNG PEOPLE’S HISTORY 

of 

GERMANY 

M 


BY 

EDWARD S. ELLIS, A. M. 


With One Hundred and Fifteen Illustrations 



PHILADELPHIA 
HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY 




THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Copies Received 


SEP. 17 1901 


Copyright entry 


CLASS Q'XXc. Na. 


TUouj <o.t9ot 


COPY 


COPY B. | 


IN UNIFORM STYLE 
BY EDWARD S. EEEIS, A.M. 


Young Peoples’ History of United States 

with 164 illustrations 

Young Peoples’ History of England 

with 164 illustrations 

Young Peoples’ History of Germany 

with 1 75 illustrations 

Young Peoples’ History of France 

with ns illustrations 

Young Peoples’ History of Greece 

with 70 illustrations 

Young Peoples’ History of Rome 

with 80 illustrations 
Price , 75 cents each 


0 * . 
«• 

• 4 

• • 


4 




• e 

• 6 


9 





• 9 











INTRODUCTION. 


It is a long, varied and wonderfully interesting story 
from the dim legends of the shaggy savages who roamed 
through the sombre wilderness between the Alps and the 
Baltic two thousand years ago to that of Germany to-day, 
with its population of more than fifty millions and her 
proud eminence among the foremost Powers of the globe. 

It is a record of valiant achievement on the battlefield, 
of patient suffering under grinding tyranny, of grim reso¬ 
lution, of heroic endeavor, and of grand triumphs in art, 
science, literature, diplomacy and patriotic toil, sacrifice 
and daring. 

The story, like that of any people, is as instructive as 
impressive. In the brief space at our command we have 
striven to set forth such leading facts that the child may 
gain an intelligent idea of the chief incidents in the his¬ 
tory of the German Empire from the dawn of its first 
authentic records to the present time. It is laborious 
work to winnow the wheat from the chaff, but it is the 
hope of the author that a spirit of inquiry may be aroused 
in the young student which will lead him to delve deeper 
into those mines of knowledge and research which offer 
certain and abundant reward for all such labor. 

E. S. E. 


(V) 




Imperial Costume, end of Fifteenth Century. 

From the Tomb of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria in the 
Cathedral at Munich. 


(vi) 















CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. 

Early History of Germany. 

113 B. C.-21 A. D. 

Origin of the German Nation Lost in Antiquity—The Different 
Tribes—Their First Invasion of Roman Territory—Defeat of the 
Romans at Noreia—Appearance of the Barbarians—Second In¬ 
vasion by the Cimbrians and Teutons—Their Crushing Defeat at 
Aix in 102 B. C.—Annihilation of the Cimbrians at Aquae Sextiae 
—Desperate Bravery of the Women—Conquest of Gaul by Julius 
Caesar—Plans of Drusus, the Roman Commander, for the Con¬ 
quest of Germany—Diplomatic Victory of Sentius Saturnius—De¬ 
struction of the Roman Army Under Quinctilius Varus by Her¬ 
mann in the Teutoburgian Forest—Hermann the Liberator of 
Germany,. 


CHAPTER II. 

The Warring Nations. 

A. D. 21-455. 

The Virtues and Vices of the Early Germans—Sanctity of the Mar 
riage Relation—Habits and Customs—Tlieir Mythology—Truce 
Between the Roman Empire and Germany—A United Movement 
Against the Roman Empire—Great Changes Among the Tribes— 
The Leading Nationalities—The Alemanni—The Franks—The 
Saxons—The Goths—The Tlmringians—The Burgundians—The 
Migration of Nations—Conquests b}'' the Saxons—The Heptarchy 
—The Vandals—Genseric—The Huns—Their Conquests—The 
Visigoths—Alaric—The Pillage of Rome —Death and Strange 
Burial of Alaric—Attila, the “Scourge of God ”—His Advance at 




Yin 


Contents. 


PAGE 

the Head of his Vast Army—His Decisive Defeat on the Cata- 
launian Plains—His Death and the Collapse of the Hunnish Em¬ 
pire—Fall of the West lloman Empire—Pillaging of Rome by 
the Vandals.24 


CHAPTER III. 

Moulding of the Empire. 

A. D. 476-768. 

Odoacer—Theodoric—Vitijes, Totilas and Tejas—Ruin of the Gothic 
Kingdom—The Longobard Empire—Events in Northern Europe 
—Salic and Ripuarian Franks—The Merovingian Dynasty— 
Clovis—His Aid to Sigebert, King of the Ripuarian Franks— 
Clovis Professes Christianity, but Proves to be a Poor Christian— 

The Kingdom Left to the Four Sons of Clovis, Who Wrangle 
and Go to War Over It—Extinction of the Merovingian Line— 

Rise of the Carlovingian Dynasty—The “Stewards of the Royal 
Household”—Their Gradual Rise to Power—Pepin of Landen— 
Charles Martel, or the Hammer—Progress Made by Christianity— 
Winifried, Known as Saint Boniface, and his Missionary Labors 
—The Great Saracen Invasion—Decisive Battle of Poitiers and 
Victory of the Franks—Death of Charles Martel—Pepin the 
Short—His Work for his Country—Recognized by the Pope as 
King of the Franks—His Services to the Church—Death of Pepin, 36 


CHAPTER IV. 

Charlemagne and his Carlovingian Successors. 

771-918. 

Charles, Known as Charlemagne—His Genius—The Rebellious Saxons 
—Conquest of the Longobards—Reception of Charles by the Pope 
of Rome—Renewed Revolt of the Saxons and Their Subjugation 
—March of Charles into Spain to Aid in the Expulsion of the 
Moors—His Treacherous Treatment and the Death of Roland, 
the Flower of Chivalry—Revolt of the Saxons Under Witikind— 
A Blunder by Charles—The Fearful Punishment Inflicted by Him 
—Christianity Made Compulsory—Final Subjugation of the Saxons 



Contents. 


IX 


PAGE 

and Conversion of Witikind—Height of the Glory of Charles— 

His Coronation as Emperor by Pope Leo III.—Charlemagne’s 
Labors for the Introduction of Learning, Arts and Culture in 
Germany—Death of Charlemagne—Louis the Pious—His Weak 
Character—Division of the Empire Among his Three Sons—Their 
Warfare Against Their Father—Their Warfare Among Them¬ 
selves—Treaty of Verdun—Beginning of the French and German 
Nationalities—The Wrangling and Confusion that Followed the 
Death of Lothaire—The Empire of Charlemagne United for the 
Last Time Under Charles the Fat—His Weakness—Deposed by 
the Nobles and his Nephew Arnulf Chosen as his Successor— 

Louis the Child—Last of the Carlovingian Line—Conrad of Fran¬ 
conia Selected as Emperor—His Last and Wisest Act—His Death, 47 

CHAPTER V. 

House op Saxony, 919-1024 ; op Franconia, Restored, 
1024-1125; and op Saxony Again, 1125-1138. 

Henry the Fowler—His Greatness—Truce with the Magyars—The 
“Builder of Towns’’—Henry’s Answer to the Demand of the 
Magyars for Blackmail—Overthrow of the Invaders—Conquest of 
the Danes—Henry’s Civil and Religious Reforms—Otto I., King 
and Emperor—Otto II.—His Failure to Unite Germany and Italy 
in One Kingdom—Otto III., the Wonder of the World—Gerbert, 
Afterward Pope Sylvester II.—Henry II., Known as the Pious— 

Last of the Saxon Emperors—Conrad II., First of the Restored 
Franconian Dynasty—Henry III., One of the Great Rulers of 
Ancient Germany—His Quarrels with the Church—Henry IV. 

—His Military Conquests—His Quarrel with Pope Gregory VII. 

—The Emperor Excommunicated and the Empire Laid Under 
an Interdict—Abject Humiliation of the Emperor—His Depo¬ 
sition of the Pope—Miserable Death of Henry IV.—Henry V., 
the Parricide—His Quarrels with the Church—Last of the Frankish 
Line—Lothaire, .57 


CHAPTER VI. 

House of Suabia or Hohenstauffen. 
1138-1254. 


Conrad III.—The Siege of Weinsburg—Dow the Women Defenders 
Saved the Men—The Crusades—The Disastrous Crusade in which 
Conrad Took Part—Frederick Barbarossa—His Greatness, his 



Contents. 


x 


/ 


PAGE 

Death and the Legend Connected Therewith—Henry VI.— 
Richard, the Lion-hearted, Held Prisoner by Him—Henry’s 
Remarkable Death—A Period of Turmoil—Frederick II.—Con¬ 
rad IV., the Last of the House of Holienstauffen—Pathetic Death 
of Conradin—A Dark Period in German Histor}’—The Great In¬ 
terregnum—How the People Lived,.73 

CHAPTER VII. 

House of Hapsburg, 1273-1308 ; House of Luxemberg and 
Bavaria, 1308-1438. 

Rudolph of Hapsburg—His Character—His Wise and Energetic Ad¬ 
ministration—Defeat and Death of Ottokar II.—Adolphus of Nas¬ 
sau—Defeated in Battle and Succeeded by Albert—Repellant 
Appearance of Albert—His Rule Only Partly Successful—His 
Assassination by his Nephew—The Story of William Tell—Battle 
of Morgarten—Henry VII.—His Brief Reign and Death—Wrangle 
Over the Succession—Charles IV.—The Universities Founded by 
Him—The “Golden Bull”—Wenceslaus—Rupert of the Pala¬ 
tinate—Jossus of Moravia—Sigismund, the “Light of the World ” 

—Schism in the Church—The Famous Council at Constance—Its 
Action—John Kuss and his Death as a Heretic—The Hussite War 
—John Ziska—Cruelties of the Hussites—How Naumburg was 
Saved—Sigismund’s Victory Over the Ottomans—His Death the 
End of the House of Luxemburg and Bavaria—The Swiss Struggle 
for Independence—Arnold Winkelried,.87 

CHAPTER VIII. 

House of Austria. 

1438-1745. 

The Invention of Printing—Of Gunpowder—Albert II.—His Char¬ 
acter and Brief Reign—Frederick III.—His Long and Unsuc¬ 
cessful Rule—Failure of the Attempt to Conquer the Swiss— 
Death of Frederick—A. E. I. O. U.—Maximilian I.—His Manly 
Beauty and Fine Character—His Numerous Wars—A Partial Im¬ 
perial Constitution Secured—Formal Acknowledgment of the 
Independence of Switzerland—Germany Destined to Become a 
Compact Kingdom—Extension of the Franchise—Printing a 
Great Factor in Progress and Civilization—The Extinguishment 
of Chivalry—Advancements in Arts and Science—Building of 
Splendid Halls and Cathedrals—The Hansa or Hanseatic League 
—Cause of its Decline—Death of Maximilian, . , , , 104 


Contents. 


xi 


PAGE 

CHAPTER IX. 

House of Austria ( Continued ). 

1438-1745. 

Charles V. One of the Greatest of Monarclis—The Seeds of the Refor¬ 
mation—Birth and Early Years of Martin Luther—Appointment 
as Professor in the University of Wittenberg—Result of his 
Special Mission to Rome—The Sale of Absolutions—Luther’s Act 
of Nailing his Theses on the Door of the Church at Wittenberg— 

His Appearance Before the Papal Legate at Augsburg—His 
Declaration—His Secret Departure for Wittenberg—Report of the 
Papal Nuncio—Burning of the Pope’s Bull and the Canonical 
Books by Luther—Charles Y.—Luther Before the Diet of Worms 
—His Strange Adventure in the Tliuringian Forest on the Road 
to Wittenberg—His Place of Shelter—His Work on the Transla¬ 
tion of the New Testament—His Sudden Return to Wittenberg 
Because of the Rise of the Anabaptists—Spread of the Reforma¬ 
tion—The Peasants’ War—League Against Luther’s Doctrines 
and the Counter-League of his Friends—Charles Y’s. War Against 
France—Marriage of Luther—Origin of the Name Protestants — 

The Confession of Augsburg —Publication of the Bible in German 
—Death of Luther.116 


CHAPTER X. 

House of Austria ( Continued ). 

1438-1745. 

The Efforts of Charles Y. to Crush Protestantism—Treason of Mau¬ 
rice of Saxony—Narrow Escape of Charles—Action of the Diet 
of Augsburg—Ferdinand I.—His Tolerant Course—Maximilian II. 
Equally Tolerant—Calvinism—Rudolph II.—His Disposition— 
Matthias—Ferdinand II.—The Spark of War Kindled at Prague— 
Beginning of the Thirty Years' War —General Tilly—Dreadful 
Misery and Violence that Accompanied the War—The Salzburg 
Wanderers—Shifting Scenes of the War—General Wallenstein— 

His Successes—The Edict of Restitution —Gustavus Adolphus of 
Sweden—His Admirable Character and Services for German 
Protestantism—Sacking of Magdeburg—Defeat and Death of 
Tilly—Battle of Leipzig and Death of Gustavus Adolphus— 
Treason of Wallenstein—His Assassination by Order of the Em¬ 
peror-Intrigues of Richelieu—Decline of the Imperial Cause— 
Ferdinand III —End of the Thirty Years' War, .... 132 



Xll 


Contents. 


N 

PAtJl 

CHAPTER XI. 

House op Austria ( Continued ). 

1438-1745. 

The Woeful Work of the Thirty Years’ War—Germany in Fragments 
—Envy of France—Leopold I.—William of Orange and Frederick 
William of Brandenburg—The Beginning of Prussia—Its First 
Three Kings—France’s Entry into Holland and Occupation of 
the Duchy of Lorraine— Vossem Treaty of Neutrality —Defeat of 
Germany in the War.with France—Turkish Attack Upon Austria— 
Vienna Saved by the Polish King—Prince Eugene of Savoy—The 
Augsburg League—Sacking of the Palatinate and Destruction of 
Heidelberg—Treaty of Ryswick—Wars of the Spanish Succession— 
Brilliant Services of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene 
—Their Crushing Victory at Blenheim—Joseph I.—The Duke of 
Marlborough’s Victory at Ramillies—Prince Eugene’s Success in 
Italy—The French King’s Proposal of Peace Rejected—His 
Second Proposal Refused—Terms Offered by the Victors—Further 
Defeat of the French and a Third Refusal of their Proposed 
Terms—Recall of the Duke of Marlborough and Death of the Em¬ 
peror—Charles VI.—Peace of Utrecht—Acceptance by Germany 
in 1714—Its Terms,.149 


CHAPTER XII. 

House op Austria (Concluded ). 1438-1745. Rise and 
Progress op Prussia, 1713-1763. 

Frederick William of Prussia—The Pragmatic Sanction —Quarrel of 
the Prussian King with his Son—Their Reconciliation—Fred¬ 
erick II.—His Success in the First Silesian War—Second Silesian 
War—Peace—The Seven Years’ AVar—Its Cause—Wonderful Gen¬ 
eralship Displayed by Frederick—His Campaigns Against the For¬ 
midable Alliance Formed Against Him—His Defeats, Brilliant 
Successes and Final Triumph—The Treaty of 1763, . . . 163 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Growth of Prussia. 

1763-1791. 

“Frederick the Great’’—Prussia One of the Five Great Powers— 
Frederick’s Services to his Country in Peace—The King and the 



Contents. 


Xlli 


Miller—Voltaire—Joseph II.—Partition of Poland—The Austrian 
War of Succession—Reform Measures of Joseph II.—Brief Reign 
of Leopold II.—Francis II.—Frederick William II. of Prussia — 
Chief Events of his Reign—A Shameful Fact Regarding Ger¬ 
many—Lessing, Goethe ana Schiller,.175 


CHAPTER XIV. 

Rise of France and Downfall of Germany. 

1791-1806. 

The Revolution in France—Its Effect Elsewhere—War Declared by 
France Against Austria—Union of Austria and Prussia—Successes 
of the French Armies—Execution of the King and Queen of 
France—The First Coalition—Its Failures—The Peace of Basle— 
Russia’s Part in the Coalition—Armistice of January, 1796—Na¬ 
poleon Bonaparte—The French Republic Strengthened by the 
First Coalition—Napoleon’s Successes—Peace of Campo Formio 
—The Second Coalition—Successes of the Allies—Withdrawal of 
Russia from the Coalition—Napoleon Made First Consul—His 
Proposed Peace Rejected by England and Austria—Resignation 
of Archduke Charles—Victories of Moreau and Napoleon— 
Marengo—Hohenlinden—Treaty of Luneville—Its Effects—Su¬ 
premacy of France in Europe—War with England—Execution of 
the Duke d’Enghien—Napoleon Made Emperor—The Third Coal¬ 
ition—Napoleon’s Entry into Berlin—Austerlitz, the “Battle of 
the Three Emperors”—Terms of the Treaty of Peace—The 
Rhenish Confederation—EXTINCTION OF THE GERMAN EM¬ 
PIRE.185 


CHAPTER XV. 

Napoleon’s Overshadowing Power. 

1806-1813. 

Napoleon, Mighty and Terrible—His Havoc Among Neighboring 
Nations—The Three Divisions of the German Empire—Prussia 
Goaded into War with France—French Victories at Jena and 
Auerstadt—Panic Throughout Russia—Alliance Between Russia 
and Prussia—Battle of Eylau—The Alliance Joined by England 
and Sweden—Battle of Friedland—Alexander I. Won Over as an 
Ally by Napoleon—Peace of Tilsit—Germany at the Lowest 
2— Ellis ’ Germany . 



XIV 


Contents. 


PAGE 

Depth of Degradation—Austria's Declaration of War Against 
France—French Victory at Wagram and Napoleon’s Second 
Entry into Vienna—Bravery of the Tyrolese—Andreas Hofer— 
Napoleon’s Further Division of his Conquests—His Divorce and 
Re-marriage—The New Coalition—Napoleon’s Disastrous Cam¬ 
paign in Russia—General Uprising in Germany—Napoleon’s New 
Forces—His Successes—An Armistice—“Marshal Vorwarts,” . 200 


CHAPTER XVI. 

Overthrow of Napoleon. 

1813-1816. 

Battle of Leipzig—Defeat of Napoleon—Advance of the Allies Upon 
Paris—Abdication of Napoleon—Louis XVIII. Made King—Na¬ 
poleon Banished to Elba—First Peace of Paris—Injustice to 
Prussia—Napoleon’s Return from Elba—His Triumphant Entry 
into Paris—Prompt Measures of the Allies—Defeat of Bliicher at 
Ligny—Battle of Waterloo—Overthrow of Napoleon—His Banish¬ 
ment to St. Helena and his Death—Second Peace of Paris—Its 
Terms—The German Confederacy,.215 


CHAPTER XVII. 

The German Confederation. 

1816-1866. 

The New German Confederation and its Form of Government—Its 
Serious Defects—Widespread Discontent—The German Univer¬ 
sities Centres of Political Thought and Discussion—The Conven¬ 
tion of 1817—Congress of Ministers at Carlsbad—Oppressive Meas¬ 
ures by the Government—The Two Opposing Factions Among 
the People—Effect in Germany of the Three Days’ Revolution in 
Paris—Popular Uprisings—The Zolleverein —Death of Francis II. 
and Frederick William III. and Their Successors—Their Deaths 
Followed by no Reforms—Legislative Assembly Called by Fred¬ 
erick William IV. and Speedily Dissolved—Effects in Germany of 
the Paris Revolution of 1848—The Provisional Assembly at 
Frankfurt—Its Action—Causes of Failure—The Stormy Year of 
1848—Francis Joseph II. of Austria,.230 


Contents. 


XV 


PAG1 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The German Confederation ( Concluded ). 

1816-1866. 

Uprisings of the People Suppressed—Austria’s Dominance Over Prus¬ 
sia—Success of Prussia is her Commercial and Customs Policy— 
Action of Prussia and Austria in the Crimean War—Success of 
France in the War with Austria—King William I.—Bismarck the 
Statesman and Man of “Blood and Iron ”—Disregard of the Op¬ 
position of the Prussian Assembly—Christian IX. of Denmark— 

The Schleswig-Holstein Question—Preparations for Hostilities 
by Austria and Prussia—Declaration of War—Prussia’s Alliance 
with Italy—Wonderful Success of Prussia in the Seven Weeks’ 

War—Decisive Victory at Koniggratz or Sadowa—Fall of Vienna 
—Peace Concluded—Relegation of Austria to the Rear in German 
Affairs and Dominance of Prussia—The “North-German Union,” 240 


CHAPTER XIX. 

North-German Union. 

1867-1871. 

France’s Jealousy of Prussia—War Preparations by Both Powers— 
Thoroughness of the Work by Prussia—The Luxemburg Affair— 
Napoleon’s Futile Proposal to Bismarck—Impatience of France 
for War—Pretext Offered by the Revolution in Spain—Declara¬ 
tion of War by France—Its Popularity in Both Countries—Von 
Moltke’s Plan of Campaign—His Three Armies—Strength of the 
French Forces—Promptness and Vigor of the Prussians—Battle 
of Gravelotte—MacMahon’s Attempt to Relieve Bazaine at Metz 
—Its Failure—Prussian Victory at Sedan and Surrender of Napo¬ 
leon and Bazaine’s Army,.254 


CHAPTER XX. 

North-German Union ( Concluded ). 

1867-1871. 

Extent of the Surrender of Sedan—The Effect Produced in Paris by 
the News—Siege of Paris—France’s Determination—Measures for 
the Relief of the City—Surrender of Metz and Marshal Bazaine’s 


xyi 


Contents. 


PAGE 

Army—The French Driven Out of the North and West of France 
—Bourbaki’s Failure and Attempt at Suicide—French Army 
Forced into Switzerland and Interned—Desperate Plight of Paris 
—Surrender of the Citj r —Prodigious Losses of France—The Im¬ 
mense Indemnity Paid Before it was Due—The North-German 
Union Becomes the GERMAN EMPIRE,.266 


CHAPTER XXI. 

New German Empire. 

1871- 

First German Parliament Elected b} r a Direct Vote of the People— 
Liberal Policy of the Government—Opposition of the Ultra- 
montanes and Centre Party—The Dispute with the Roman Cath¬ 
olic Church—“ To Canossa We Do Not Go ! ”—Expulsion of the 
Jesuits from Germany—Continued Disputes—The Bundesratli— 
Meeting of the Three Emperors—Bismarck’s Compromise with 
the Centre—His Fight Against Socialism—Protective Legislation 
—An Important Scheme Set on Foot—Foreign Outlets for Surplus 
Population and New Manufactures—Death of Emperor William I. 

—William II.—His Versatility and Genius—His Break with Prince 
Bismarck—Cause of Their Difference—Heligoland—Deaths of Von 
Moltke and Bismarck—Estimate of William I., Frederick HI. and 
William II. by a German Professor, ...... 277 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAG 3 

Charlemagne in his Cloister-School. Frontispiece. 

Cimbrians and Romans in Battle. 17 

Teuton Women Defending their Wagon Castles. 19 

Thusnelda Presented to Germanicus. 23 

Old German Wedding. 25 

Woden, or Odin. 27 

Stilicho and Wife. 32 

Burial of Alaric in the Busento. 33 

A Hunnic Festival in the Tent of Attila. 35 

Tomb of Theodoric the Great, at Ravenna. 37 

Introduction of Christianity into Germany. 41 

St. Boniface Building the Monastery of Fulda. 43 

Return of Charlemagne to his Home. 49 

Witikind Refuses Submission to Charlemagne. 51 

Election of Conrad of Franconia. 59 

The Last Tribute to the Magyars. 61 

Statues of Otto the Great and his Wife. 62 

Coin of Otto the Great. 63 

Miniature from the Missal of Henry II. 65 

The Empress Kunigunde Walking Over Hot Plowshares. 66 

The Empress Kunigunde Adored as a Saint. 66 

Seal of the Emperor Conrad II. 67 

(xvii) 

























xvl ii Illustrations. 

PAGE 

Great Hall of the Imperial House at Goslar. 68 

Henry III. Deposes Pope Sylvester III. 69 

Henry IV. Before the Gates of Canossa.. 71 

The Children’s Crusade. 75 

Meeting of Barbarossa and Pope Alexander III. 77 

The Emperor Barbarossa Asleep in the Kyffhaiiser. 78 

Stone Relief of the Emperor Barbarossa. 79 

Statue of Frederick II. at Palermo. 80 

Frederick II. Receives an Embassy from Saladin.. 81 

Effigies of Henry the Lion and his Wife.... 82 

Execution of Conradin of Hohenstauffen. 83 

Wildenstein Castle. 85 

German Kirmess, Showing Manners and Customs. 86 

Statue of Rudolph of Hapsburg.. 88 

Rudolph of Hapsburg Hears of his Election. 89 

Seal of Adolphus of Nassau. 91 

Seal of Albert of Austria. 92 

The Battle of Morgarten.. 95 

Golden Seal of Charles IV. 96 

Miniature from the “Golden Bull ”. 96 

The “ Temple House,” in Cologne..... 97 

John Huss Led to Execution. 99 

The Children Before Procopius the Great... 101 

Heroic Death of Arnold Von Winkelried. 103 

First Impression from Guttenberg’s Press. 105 

The Battle of Basle. 107 

Portrait Medal of Frederick III.. 108 

Flight of Charles the Bold. 109 






























Illustrations. 


xix 


PAGE 

The Emperor Maximilian I. HO 

A Military Execution by the Provost.. Ill 

Siege of a Town Under Maximilian 1. 113 

City of Cologne from the Rhine. 115 

Martin Luther. 117 

Selling Papal Indulgences. 119 

Fac-simile of an Indulgence Certificate. 121 

Tomb of Frederick the Wise. 122 

The Emperor Charles V. 125 

Peasants at Work, Sixteenth Century. 126 

Schoolroom of the Sixteenth Century. 126 

Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms. 127 

Lady of the Nobility on Horseback. 128 

Scene from the Peasants’ Rebellion. 129 

Seal of Charles V. 131 

German Patricians, about 1550. 132 

The Emperor Ferdinand 1. 133 

The Emperor Maximilian II. 134 

A Sitting of the Holy Inquisition. 135 

The Emperor Rudolph II. 136 

The Councilors Thrown Out of the Window. 137 

The Emperor Matthias. 138 

The Emperor Ferdinand II. 139 

Pillage and Destruction of a Village. 140 

Tilly in the Church at Wimpffen. 141 

Wallenstein. 142 

Gustavus Adolphus. 144 

Tilly Demands the Surrender of Magdeburg. 145 






























XX 


Illustrations. 


PACE 

Death of Gustavus Adolphus at Liitzen. 147 

The Emperor Ferdinand III. 148 

The Great Elector, Frederick William. 151 

The Great Elector at Fehrbcllin. 155 

The Emperor Joseph 1. 159 

Marlborough’s Charge at Ramillies. 161 

Tobacco College of Frederick William I.. 164 

The Empress Maria Theresa. 165 

Capture of the Austrians at Hohenfriedberg. 167 

General Seidlitz Pursuing the French... ’. 171 

Frederick the Great at the Palace of Lissa.. 173 

Frederick the Great. 177 

Frederick the Great on Horseback. 179 

A Prussian Grenadier. 181 

The Emperor Leopold II.. 183 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. ... 181 

The Goddess of Reason. 187 

The Emperor Francis II. 189 

Frederick William II. 190 

General Moreau... 191 

General Jourdan.• • • 193 

General Bernadotte. 193 

General Suwarrow. 194 

General Desaix. 195 

Charge of the Twelfth Hussars at Marengo. 197 

Joseph Bonaparte. 201 

Frederick William III. 202 

Louis Bonaparte... 203 






























Illustration^ xxi 

PAGE 

General Murat.; i. i ;; , . 204 

Gustavils III., King of Sweden. 205 

Marshal Ney. 206 

General Victor. 207 

Andreas Hofer Led to Execution. 209 

Return of the ‘‘Grand Army” from Russia. 211 

On the Altar of Fatherland. 213 

Marshal Bliicher Defeats the French. 217 

Napoleon’s Flight Through Leipzig. 219 

Talleyrand. 221 

The “ Little Corporal ”. 223 

Marshal Bliicher Wounded at Ligny. 225 

Charge of the Cuirassiers at Waterloo. 227 

The Allies on the Road to Paris. 229 

Louis Philippe. 235 

The Emperor Francis Joseph. 241 

King William 1. 243 

Prince Bismarck. 245 

Crown Prince Frederick William. 248 

King William I. at Koniggratz. 249 

Count von Moltke. 250 

The City Hall of Prague. 251 

The Emperor Napoleon III. 255 

The Mitraileuse. 257 

Prussian Artilleryman.259 

General Frossard. 261 

Prince Frederick Charles. 262 

Charge of German Uhlans at Mars-le-Tour. 263 






























XXII 


Illustrations. 


PAGE 

Charge of French Cuirassiers at Gravelotte. 265 

General Witnpffen. 267 

M. Jules Favre. 268 

The Capitulation at Donchery. 269 

M. Leon Gambetta. 270 

Marshal Bazaine. 271 

General Chanzy. 272 

General Werder. 273 

General Trochu.. 274 

Entry of Emperor William I. into Berlin. 279 

The Congress of Berlin. 283 

The Emperor William 1. 285 

The Emperor William II. 287 

The Emperor William II. and his Staff. 289 
















ALTEMUS’ YOUNG PEOPLE’S 


HISTORY OF GERMANY. 


CHAPTER I. 

EARLY HISTORY OF GERMANY. 113 B. C.— 21 A. D. 

T HERE were several striking facts about Dick Hardin, 
who shared my seat with me in the old Edenton 
School, when he and I were boys. He was the 
homeliest, most mischievous and the brightest lad among 

us all. 

He had red hair, big, bulging eyes, and was so freckled 
that the brown spots showed on his ears and the back of his 
neck. He never studied half as much as the rest of us, for 
there was no need of his doing so, since there was not a single 
subject in which he was not far ahead of us all. He was 
good-natured, always ready to help others in their lessons, 
and, naturally, was a favorite with all, including his teacher. 
I haven’t the space, or I should tell you of some of his 
pranks, which many a time provoked a smile from the 
good Mr. Black, even when uttering words of reproof, for 
Dick, so far as I was able to learn, was never guilty of a 
mean or unkind act or word. 


(13) 



14 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

One of Dick’s most astonishing talents was his skill in 
drawing. He was a natural artist, and his work on the 
blackboard was a feast for the eye. Mr. Black was no 
mean artist himself, and when he began teaching us 
geography by haying us reproduce maps on the black¬ 
board from memory, we admired his skill, and I was sure 
none of the boys or girls ever would be able to equal it; 
but within two weeks Dick surpassed him, as the teacher 
was the first to admit. His taste enabled him to make the 
most beautiful combination of the differently-colored 
chalks, and when he finished his picture of any country, 
no matter how complicated its boundaries and natural 
features, it was perfect. Great as might be the need of the 
blackboards in the solution of our problems, there was 
always one map left standing, with the written command 
“To Bemain ” prominently displayed. This map was for 
the benefit of visitors, of whom we had plenty, and the 
work thus preserved was invariably from the hand of 
Dick Hardin. 

Now, you are wondering what all this has to do with the 
history of Germany. Wait a few minutes and you shall learn. 

One day Mr. Black addressed Dick : 

“Bichard, what is the best method of drawing a map 
of Germany?” 

Without a smile on his broad, freckled face, he 
answered : 

“ Take four j)ieces of crayon; break each into fine 
bits; stand six feet and a half from the blackboard, and 
throw the pieces of chalk at it, and they’ll make a good 
map of Germany.” 


15 


Early History of Germany. 

“ I am inclined to think you are half right,” remarked 
the teacher, trying to repress a smile. 

If the words of Dick were used to-day, they would 
lose much of their force, for the German Empire is as 
“solid’’ as any of the neighboring countries; but at the 
time to which I refer it was so cut up and subdivided into 
States and political divisions that its study was a perplexity, 
beyond the capacity of all except Dick Hardin. He 
alone was able to reproduce its features correctly on the 
blackboard. All the rest of the class shuddered with 
fear lest the drawing of a map of that country should be 
assigned to us. 

This incident comes back to me, now that I have sat 
down to write the history of the German Empire; for, if 
I were to give you the particulars from the earliest known 
times to the present, they would be as intricate, complex, 
involved and confusing as the picture of the face of the 
country used to be. No matter how faithfully you might 
study it, the chief part would be a jumble in your memory. 
Moreover, the space at my command, fortunately for you, 
will not permit such an elaboration, and I am glad of it. 

Yet the history of Germany is wonderfully interesting 
and instructive, and it shall be my aim in the following 
pages to tell you the most important facts, and so to present 
them that you will gain a clear idea of the birth, growth, 
misfortunes, good fortunes, trials, triumphs and develop¬ 
ment of one of the greatest powers in Christendom. 

With this introduction, let us waste no more time. 

The origin of the German nation, like that of all 
other nations, is lost in the shadows of antiquity. No 


16 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

historian as yet lias been able to tell when the first people 
of Germany left Asia, the cradle of the human race, nor 
what causes led them to seek the regions of the North and 
make their homes there. Those people were savages, who 
kept no written records, nor have any of their songs or 
traditions come down to us. It follows, therefore, that the 
authentic history of Germany must commence at a date 
when probably their ancestors had been living for many 
centuries in that section of Europe. 

It is quite certain that the ancient Germans dwelt in 
the immense forests which stretched from the Alps to the 
shores of the Baltic, and that the people were divided into 
many tribes, such as the Suevi, the Alemanni, the Cimbri, 
and the Teutons, the Saxons, the Longobards, the Cliatti, 
the Cherusci, and others. 

In the year 113 B. C. the Cimbrians and Teutonia ns 
made an incursion into Boinan territory, and by thus 
coming in contact with civilized and educated people they 
were “ put on record,” so to speak, and something definite 
was learned of them. 

The Cimbrians were originally inhabitants of Jutland, 
tall of stature, with fair hair, blue eyes, and possessed of 
great strength. When they poured through the Tyrolese 
Alps, and invaded Homan territory, they numbered 
several hundred thousand, and they brought with them 
their wives, children and movable property. Alarmed 
by this amazing invasion, a powerful Homan army met 
them in battle at Noreia, between the Adriatic and the 
Alps, where in a furious battle the Homans were beaten. 

The news of this defeat caused dismay in Home. 


17 


Early History of Germany. 

The barbarians wore breastplates of iron, and helmets 
crowned with the heads of wild beasts, while the white 
shields which they carried gleamed with dazzling bright¬ 
ness in the sunlight. Upon first meeting their foes, they 
hurled double-headed spears, and at close quarters fought 
with short, heavy swords. The women encouraged their 
husbands and sons by shouts and war songs, and were as 
fierce as the warriors themselves. 



Cimbrians and Romans in Battle. 

From a Roman Sarcophagus: Showing that the German Tribes threw off their 
clothes while in battle. 

Instead of advancing upon Home, the Cimbrians and 
Teutons moved westward along the Alps, passed into Gaul, 
and gained for the time possession of a part of Spain. 
For ten years they plundered at will, then went home, and 
soon made preparations for again invading Italy. The 
Roman consul, Marius, who marched against them, found 
that the formidable force had divided, so as to cross the 












18 Young People’s History of Germany. 

Alps by two different roads. It was in the year 102 B. C. 
that he attacked the barbarians at Aix (lakes), and, 
although they must have numbered nearly t\xo hundred 
thousand, Marius almost annihilated them. 

The Homan army made its way through the Alps, 
and the following year encountered the Cimbrians at 
Aquae Sextiae. They were drawn up in a square, the 
sides of which were nearly three miles long. In the 
centre of this square the wagons were arranged in the 
form of a fortress for the women and children. The 
trained Homan legions broke through the square and 
utterly routed the barbarians. The women defended their 
castles with desperate bravery, and when they saw all was 
lost killed their children and then themselves. A few 
thousand prisoners were taken; but this was the last appear¬ 
ance of the Cimbrians in Italy for five hundred years. 

We must now make a leap of a hundred and fifty 
years to a time when the Germans in Gaul numbered 
more than 100,000, most of whom were the Suevi, a 
daring tribe, whose home was in the southwest of Germany. 
The other tribes, finding the Suevi too powerful for them, 
asked Julius Caesar to help expel them. Caesar had been 
waiting for a good opportunity to invade Gaul, and he 
promptly responded, and made thorough work of it. In 
the year 51 B. C., Gaul was completely conquered and 
turned into a Homan province. Thus the people gained 
the benefit of Homan culture and civilization. 

In the years 12 to 9 B. C., Drusus, the Homan com- 
m an der on th e Hh i n e, d e t erm i n ed to m a k e G erm an y a Horn a n 
province, just as Caesar had done with Gaul. He joined 



The Battle of Aquae Sextiae. 


Teuton Women Defending their Wagon Castles. 
3— Ellis' Germany. 










20 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

the Rhine with the Zuyder Zee, so as to have direct com¬ 
munication with the North Sea, and made many forays 
against the tribes living between the Rhine and the Weser. 
It is said that in the year 10 B. C., he had fully fifty fort¬ 
resses along the Rhine, the most important being opposite 
Mayence, which to-day forms the town of Cassel. He also 
constructed the Drusus Canal, running from Mayence across 
the mountains of the Taunus and through the territory of 
the Chatti. He led his invincible army as far as the Elbe, 
never before reached by the Roman legions, but was killed 
by an accidental fall from his horse. 

Although Germany was looked upon as already secure, 
the Roman commander, Sen tins Saturnius, won the people 
by his tact and diplomacy. Merchants opened markets in 
many places, and the Germans were fascinated by the new 
culture around them. They were profoundly impressed 
by the military superiority of the Romans, and thousands 
of German youths enlisted in the Roman army. Thus 
peace promised a greater victory than was gained by war. 

But Tiberius, the Roman emperor, resolved to subju¬ 
gate the Alemanni, a powerful tribe living in the country 
along the Danube. Success in this meant that all the land 
between the Rhine, the Elbe and the Danube would be¬ 
come Roman territory, and there would be an end to Ger¬ 
man freedom. When the plans, however, were completed, 
Tiberius was called home, and that portion of Germany 
was left undisturbed for the time. 

Quinctilius Varus was commander-in-chief in north¬ 
west Germany, where the Germans were soon groaning 
under the intolerable tyranny of Roman laws, that not only 


21 


Early History of Germany. 

wrung grinding taxes from them, but punished slight 
offences with death. Varus hoped by this frightful harsh¬ 
ness to crush the spirit of the people, but he only intensi¬ 
fied the feeling of nationality, which has always been one 
of the most marked features of the German character. 
All the tribes between the Rhine and the Weser united 
under Hermann, Prince of the Cherusci. This brave and 
talented youth had learned Roman methods of warfare in 
Italy, and, burning with the wrongs of his people, he was 
the one of all others to lead in the struggle for German 
independence. 

While the Roman army was encamped on the banks 
of the Weser, Varus was called away to suppress a revolt 
in a distant quarter. He was warned that this was a plot 
for his undoing; but, full of self-confidence, he paid no 
heed to wise counsels, and took the shortest route through 
the Teutoburgian forest, which was precisely what the Ger¬ 
mans had planned and were waiting for. In the sombre 
depths of the swamps, mountain defiles and wilderness, he 
was assailed incessantly on all sides by the Germans 
throughout several days and nights. When all hope was 
gone, Varus killed himself by falling on his sword, many 
of his officers imitating his example. Thus the great 
Roman army was annihilated and Germany freed from the 
foreign yoke. 

This disaster was a fearful blow to Roman prestige and 
spread consternation in Rome. Several attempts were 
made to avenge the defeat, but the resistance of the Ger¬ 
mans was so desperate that the task was finally given over. 
It was on one of these raids, in 15 A. D., that Thusnelda, 


22 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

the wife of Hermann, was carried off by Germanicus the 
Roman general. A son was born to her in captivity, and 
the two figured in the sad procession given Germanicus 
in honor of his bravery in Germany; but beyond that 
mournful episode history is silent regarding the unfortu¬ 
nate mother and son. Germanicus was sent by Tiberius 
to Syria, where he died so suddenly that it is to be feared 
it was the result of poison. The Roman Emperor declared 
that enough blood had been shed in Germany, which 
henceforth was to be left to itself. 

This was a wise decision, but it proved a woful thing 
for Germany, for as soon as the danger of foreign conquest 
was removed the tribes began wrangling among them¬ 
selves. Such quarrels are always the most cruel and the 
most vindictive. Hermann, sometimes called Arminius, was 
the Washington of his country, and is considered to have 
well won the title of Deliverer of Germany. But because 
of his lofty character, genius and patriotism, he was envied 
by base spirits, and when only thirty-six years old was 
assassinated, in 21 A. D., by one of his own relatives, his 
loss being irreparable. Of him Tacitus says: 

“ Undoubtedly he was the liberator of Germany, hav¬ 
ing dared to grapple with the Roman power, not in its 
beginnings, like other kings and commanders, but in the 
maturity of its strength. He was not always victorious in 
battle, but in war was never subdued. He still lives in 
the songs of the barbarians, unknown to the annals of the 
Greeks, who only admire that which belongs to themselves— 
nor celebrated as he deserves by the Romans, who, in prais¬ 
ing the olden times, neglect the events of the later years. ,, 





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CHAPTER II. 


THE WARRING NATIONS. A. D. 21-455. 

I HAVE told you of the splendid physical development 
of the ancient Germans, and Tacitus, the Roman his¬ 
torian, advised his degenerate countrymen to imitate 
many of their hardy virtues. Among them the sanctity of 
marriage was rigidly upheld, the women were held in the 
highest honor, the youths were trained in private virtues, 
to be faithful unto death and to be hospitable to every one. 

But they had their failings, as do every people. The 
chief of these were their indolence, fondness for drink 
and their love of gaming. They would stake all their 
possessions on the throw of dice, and sometimes barter 
away their own freedom. The women were never present at 
those gambling tests. As I have shown, they were the 
equal of the men in energy and courage, and always accom¬ 
panied their husbands in battle, where they took care of 
the wounded and urged on the men by their cries and 
sons;s. 

I have mentioned the honor which they showed to the 
marriage relation. No ancient people of whom we have 
record equalled them in that respect. The ceremony 
consisted in the man giving the bride a horse or yoke of 
oxen, while she gave him arms or armor in return. A 
wife or husband who disregarded the marriage vow was 
punished with death. 

(24) 



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26 


Young Peoples History of Germany. 

The old Germans tilled the ground and hunted in the 
forest, being mostly clad in furs, but the women wore linen 
garments, spun and woven by themselves. The people 
were divided into freemen, serfs and slaves. Each family 
had its own strict laws, and, like the Boers in South Africa, 
preferred solitary homesteads or scattered villages to towns. 
A number of families formed a “district/’ or in some cases 
they were united in “hundreds”, instead of districts, each 
of which managed its own affairs as a little republic, yet 
every one had a leader, and all the districts met at the 
time of the new or full moon as a “ General Assembly of 
the People.” 

The gods which the Germans worshipped were those 
that represented the powers of nature, and their mythology 
was that of* the Scandinavians, with a slight variation. 
Their chief deity was Woden, or Odin, the god of the sky 
and Creator, and next to him came his two sons, Donar, or 
Thor, the god of thunder, and Zin, or Thiu, the god of 
war. Donar, with his flaming beard and giant hammer, 
was the Thor of the Scandinavians. Hertha was the god¬ 
dess of the earth, and was worshipped with secret rites. 
At the religious festivals the sacrifices were sometimes 
those of human beings. Even after Christianity was 
introduced, some of these festivals were celebrated, but 
they were changed to the Christian anniversaries of Christ¬ 
mas, Easter and Whitsuntide. 

Following the death of Hermann, it may be said that 
for a long time the relations of the Homan Empire and 
Germany were that of a truce. No serious attempt was 
made to extend Homan sway beyond the banks of the 


27 


Tlie Warring Nations. 

Rhine and the Danube, while the German tribes were so 
weakened by their civil wars that Rome had nothing to 
fear from them. Hermann’s own tribe, the Cherusci, 



Woden, or Odin. 


became so diminished that it soon ceased to exist as a sepa¬ 
rate people. The Emperors of Rome from Vespasian to 
Marcus Aurelius (A. D. 70 to 181) cultivated the military 














28 Young People’s History of Germany. 

spirit among the Germans, many of whom served under 
the Roman eagles. German legions were formed and took 
part in the invasions of Spain, Greece and the East. For 
about a century after Vespasian became emperor there 
was no important interruption of the jjeaceful relations 
between the two races. Inevitably changes grew up in the 
German habits, customs, tastes and manner of living, for 
this contact with Rome could not fail to make it so. They 
began to live in villages; they used stone as well as wood 
in building their houses and fortresses, and gave more 
attention to tilling the ground than to hunting and fishing. 
The extinction of many smaller tribes taught them the 
necessity of union, for it may be said that danger always 
threatened them, and the history of Rome itself was the 
most impressive of all object lessons. 

About the year 166, all the German tribes from the 
Danube to the Baltic combined in a great movement 
against the Roman Empire. The war was long and fierce 
and bloody, but Rome succeeded in restoring the ancient 
boundary between her dominions and Germany, though at a 
cost which she could not again afford. Corruption, vice and 
effeminacy were eating out the vitals of Rome, but through 
all this decay Germany preserved her simplicity, vigor, 
morality and energy. Then ensued a series of internal 
changes, of which we have no record, but which resulted 
in a union of all the leading tribes. Could we know how 
all this was brought about, it would be interesting, for 
when the Germans emerge from the shadows in the third 
century, the strange fact appears that nearly all the tribes 
that had taken a leading part in earlier events had disap- 


29 


The Warring Nations. 

peared. Instead of more than a score of them, we find 
only four leading nationalities, with two more inferior, but 
still independent, branches. 

Now, since each of these nationalities has a leading 
part to play in the subsequent history of Germany, let us 
fix the chief facts concerning them in our minds. 

The Alemanni first appeared along the Main, thence 
pressed south, until they occupied the greater jiart of 
southwestern Germany and eastern Switzerland to the 
Alps, where their descendants still live. 

The Franks are first heard of on the lower Rhine, hut 
they soon occupied a great part of Belgium and West¬ 
phalia. The chiefs who ruled them were already known 
as kings, and their authority was hereditary. 

The Saxons were one of the original tribes that settled 
in Holstein, and we now find them occupying most of the 
territory between the Hartz Mountains and the North Sea, 
from the Elbe westward to the Rhine. 

The Goths possess a peculiar interest. According to 
their own traditions, they were settled in Sweden before 
the Greek navigators found them on the southern shore 
of the Baltic in 330 B. C. The present Scandinavian race 
is probably descended from the Goths who did not leave 
their homes. The Baltic Goths gradually made their way 
up the Vistula, thence eastward along the Carpathians to 
the Black Sea, thus securing a broad belt of territory 
separating the rest of Europe from the Slavonic races which 
occupied Central Russia. They absorbed so many tribes 
and occupied so extensive territory that they divided into 
the Ostrogoths and Visigoths, or East-Goths and West-Goths. 


30 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

The Thuringians had only a brief national existence, 
occupying as they did all of Central Germany, from the 
Hartz mountains south to the Danube. The Burgundians 
came from Prussia, first settling in a part of wliat is now 
Franconia, but soon took possession of the country on the 
west bank of the Rhine, between Strasburg and Mayence. 

Moved by that strange upheaval and mysterious im¬ 
pulse known as the Migration of Nations, the various 
nationalities began moving slowly toward the destinations 
which nature seemed to have selected for them. Thus the 
Alemanni drifted to Gaul; the Saxons to the North Sea 
and its adjoining islands; the Goths to the lands south of 
the Danube, and the Franks, in the northeast of Gaul, 
were soon in the heart of the country itself. 

During the fourth century the Alemanni several times 
invaded Italy, but were driven back by the Roman legions. 
Then the Alemanni united with the Suevi, and settled in 
the southwest of Germany, which took the name of Suabia 
(Swa'bi-a). You have learned in the history of England 
and France how the Saxons, first scourging the coast of 
France, crossed over to Britain, which the Romans, after 
ruling for five centuries, had left to the cruel mercies of 
the Piets and Scots. Unable to beat back these enemies, 
the Britons asked the Saxons to help them. They did so, 
and then found Britain so much-to their liking that they 
remained and were soon joined by hordes from North 
Germany, who conquered all of Britain. The seven king¬ 
doms founded by the Saxons were known as the Heptarchy, 
and you learned all about them in the history of England. 

The Burgundians, coming originally from the Oder, 


The Warring Nations. 


31 


settled in the fifth century on the Upper Rhine, and the 
Vandals, from the shores of the Baltic, made their home 
in Hungary. Then they moved into Italy, Gaul, and 
finally to Spain. The province of Andalusia was formerly 
Vandalusia, and was called after these Vandals. This 
restless people next entered Africa, in the year 420, at the 
invitation of the discontented Roman governor there. 
Conquering the whole of the northern coast, they founded 
for a century a flourishing kingdom, with Carthage as the 
chief city. The Vandal leader was Genseric, one of the 
great men of his times, who ruled from '428 to 477. 
Wherever those Vandals went their devastations were so 
dreadful that their name remains a byword and reproach 
to this day. 

A new and terrible enemy appeared in Europe. They 
were the Huns, a Mongolian race from Central Asia. 
They were small of stature, hideous of countenance, but 
hardy and fierce, knowing or caring nothing for religion, 
leading a wandering life, and held in terror by every one 
who had ever seen or heard of them. So vast was their 
number and so ferocious were they in warfare that all 
Europe trembled. They had no difficulty in conquering 
the Alani and the Ostrogoths, while the Visigoths, dread¬ 
ing the same fate, asked the Roman Emperor Valens to 
unite them to the Roman Empire. The request was 
granted, and a large number of Visigoths entered Bulgaria, 
but were treated so harshly by the greedy officials that 
they were angered and rose in rebellion. They defeated 
the Roman general in 378, then pushed southward to Con¬ 
stantinople, and were only persuaded to turn back by 


32 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

costly bribes and favorable treaties. Having learned their 
own strength, the Visigoths repeatedly renewed their 
attacks, and finally, under their famous king, Alaric, 

made their way as far as Sparta 
in the south of Greece. Ad¬ 
vancing into Italy, Alaric met 
with defeat at Pollentia and 
made a treaty, but in 408 en¬ 
tered Italy a second time. You 
will remember that at the date 
named the once mighty empire 
of Pome was decayed, with 
little of its former power and 
glory remaining. The Pomans 
preferred to pay rather than 
fight, and the haughty Alaric 
received an enormous ransom; 
but he could not make satis¬ 
factory terms with the Poinan 
Emperor, and he appeared before Pome again in 409. 
The gates of the Eternal City, which had not known a 
hostile tread for eight hundred years, were opened by 
treachery, and for six days Pome was given over to 
pillage and plunder. All that was respected was the 
churches and sacred vessels beloimiim to them. 

o O 

Alaric began his preparations for conquering Sicily, 
but was stricken by mortal illness and died when only 
thirty-four years old. He received a strange burial. The 
river Busento was diverted from its course, and in the dry 
bed a grave was made of solid masonry. The dead king, 



Sliliclio and Wife: from his Sarco¬ 
phagus at Milan. 

Stilicho Defeated Alaric at Pollentia 
in 403. 




The Warring Nations. 


oo 

OO 



Burial of Alaric in the Busento. 

in full armor, seated on 
his horse and with en¬ 
ormous treasures piled 
around him, was placed 
within this vault, af¬ 
ter which the river 
was turned hack into 
its channel, that no 
man might know where the mighty Alaric was buried. 
The Huns settled in Hungary, where they united under 









34 Young People’s History of Germany. 

the terrific Attila, or Etzel, who called himself “The 
Scourge of God.” He was small of stature, with a large 
head and fierce eyes, a perfect master of war as it was then 
understood, and a despot who by the nod of his head could 
settle the question of life and death for any number of sub¬ 
jects, no matter how humble or how exalted. As I have 
said, he was dreaded by all nations, his name inspiring 
terror throughout Asia and as far even as China. That 
country as well as Persia sued for his friendship. He 
conquered nation after nation, and all were forced to fol¬ 
low him, for which he allowed them to retain their own 
language and customs. 

At the head of a prodigious host, numbering almost a 
million men, Attila invaded Burgundy and laid it waste. 
The capital, Worms, and other cities were burned, and he 
marched as far as Orleans without receiving any check. 
When he laid siege to the city, the Homans, Visigoths 
and other nations resolved to make a final stand against 
this terrifying barbarian. 

In the year 451, on the Catalaunian Plains, near Cha¬ 
lons ( sha-long ), on the Marne, was fought one of the great 
battles of the world, for it decided the fate of Europe. 
The Huns were beaten, and Attila was forced to retire 
across the Rhine. The Scourge of God withdrew sul¬ 
lenly, but in the following year he laid waste the north of 
Italy, and had set out for Rome when he was bought off 
by an enormous ransom, with which he returned to Hun¬ 
gary. He died unexpectedly in 452, and with his death 
the Hunnisli Empire crumbled to pieces, none of his sons 
being strong enough to hold it together. Gradually, as 



A Hunnic Festival in the Tent of Attila. 


4— Ellis’ Germany. 
























































36 


Young People’s History of Germany, 

the years passed, the Huns themselves became absorbed 
by the surrounding nations. Then the West Roman Em¬ 
pire fell, the Vandals, under Genseric, were called, from 
Africa, and for two weeks Rome was pillaged, without 
mercy. All the towns of the Campania were laid waste, 
and the Vandals went back to Carthage, staggering under 
their loads of booty. 


CHAPTER III. 

MOULDING OF THE EMPIKE. A. D. 476-768. 

T HE period at which we have now arrived was one 
of confusion in Rome, which was fast tumbling to 
ruin. From the turmoil there arose in 476 a 
prince of the Heruli named Odoacer, who ruled at the 
head of his German tribes with wisdom and moderation 
for fourteen years. He was able to hold out for a time 
against Theodoric, king of the vast Ostrogoth Empire, 
but was compelled to surrender in 493, and was treacher¬ 
ously murdered by order of Theodoric, who ruled his two 
nations of Goths and Romans with justice, but as he grew 
older became cruel and intolerant. 

After the death of Theodoric, he was succeeded in 
turn by Vitijes (yee-te'ges), Totilas and Tejas (ta'gas), who 
were continually harassed by the Roman general Beli- 
sarius, and after him, Narses. The Goths fought with 



37 


Moulding of the Empire. 

great bravery and for a long time, but Totilas was killed 
in battle in the year 552, anti ten months later his succes- 



Tomb of Theodoric the Great, at Kavenna. 


sor, Tejas, fell in the three days’ conflict near Cnma. 
Then the Gothic kingdom sank to ruin; the Ostrogoths 
were almost destroyed, a few making their escape over 




























38 Young People’s History of Germany. 

the Alps, where they found an asylum among the Ger¬ 
mans. 

The Gothic power haying disappeared from Italy, the 
Longobards arose in 568, and under their king, Albion, 
founded the Longobard Empire, which gradually ex¬ 
tended its conquests into South Italy and Sicily, and in 
the course of the following two centuries the different 
people fused and became one nation. 

You will notice that we have been telling of events in 
the south of Europe. We must now give attention to the 
north, where the Franks sjfiit into two great divisions, 
the Salic and the Bipuarian Franks. Because the an¬ 
cestor of the Salic race was Meroveus, the dynasty which 
sprang from him is called the Merovingian line. Chil- 
peric, son of Meroveus, was an ally of the Homans, and 
was succeeded by Clovis in 481. This leader figures 
largely in the early history of Central Eurojoe, and in 
our story of France we have had considerable to tell about 
him. I am sure you will recall the story of Clovis and 
the vase. He was a great warrior, and gave the death¬ 
blow to Boman power in Gaul. All the territory be¬ 
tween Belgium and the Loire ( Iwar ) came into the pos¬ 
session of the Franks, who made Paris the capital of the 
empire. 

Sigebert {sig-bart), king of the Bipuarian Franks, 
finding himself attacked in 496 by the Alemanni, begged 
Clovis to help him, and he did so. The wife of Clovis 
was a Christian, and she had often urged her husband to 
accept that faith. While he thought seriously of the 
matter, he held off until he found himself in the midst of 


39 


Moulding of the Empire. 

a terrible battle with the Alemanni, and the prospect of a 
crushing defeat before him. He vowed that if God would 
give him success he would become a Christian. He did 
gain a great victory—though I cannot help thinking that 
such an offer was absurd and presumptuous on the part of 
Clovis, since it is never necessary for God to make a bar¬ 
gain with any of his helpless creatures. 

But Clovis (unlike many persons who make vows 
when in deep trouble) kept his promise. He and 3,000 
noble Franks were baptized at Rheims (reemz), and in a 
little while all the Salic Franks professed Christianity. 
How strange it is that so many people who profess this 
sweet, gentle faith violate every rule of life it calls for, 
and yet seem to fancy that because they say they are 
Christians they are really such ! Clovis was about as far 
from being a Christian as Satan himself, for he was fierce, 
cruel and treacherous to the last degree. He never hesi¬ 
tated to kill any one whom he fancied to be in his way. 
Wishing to make himself king of the Ripuarian Franks, 
he murdered Sigebert and his son, and when he died, in 
511, all the Frankish races were under one dominion, and 
his immense empire was left to his four sons. 

Now, here comes another period of jumbling and turn¬ 
ing of things topsy-turvy, the particulars of which are not 
worth the trouble of reading. The four sons of Clovis 
divided the vast kingdom among themselves, quarreled, 
fought, split it into several dominions, united them, tore 
them apart again, committed crimes without number, with 
the Merovingian line growing steadily weaker, until at 
last, like a burned candle, it was snuffed out in 752, to be 


40 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

succeeded by a virile and powerful dynasty which stamped 
itself indelibly upon the civilization and life of the people. 

This was the Carlovingian line, and it had a curious 
origin. Among the offices held under the miserable fag- 
end kings of the Merovingian dynasty was that of 
“Steward of the Royal Household,” whose occupant was 
the major clomus of the king. In their conquests the 
Franks usually claimed one-third of the territory which 
fell into their hands. A part of this went to the chief 
men and soldiers, while another portion became the 
common property of the people, who elected a steward to 
look after it in their interest. Besides, the lazy kings 
found it convenient to intrust the royal estates to the same 
steward. Gradually this officer grew to be as important 
as the king himself, and in the end still mere so, for it 
was by them that the Merovingian line was wiped out. 
When, in 622, the young son of the successful king, 
Bagobert, was made ruler over the German half of the 
empire, Pepin ( peh-pan ), of Landen, was recognized as 
the steward, arid the weak Dagobert was intrusted wholly 
into his hands. 

Pepin was shrewd, intelligent and energetic, the king 
being a mere puppet under him, and the steward greatly 
strengthened the country. His son, Grimoald, followed 
the policy of his father, and after him Pepin, ofHeristal, 
became practically the ruler of the Franks, and assumed 
the ducal title. He died in 714, and his son, Karl, 
reigned as sole major dornus and prince over the empire. 

Before giving an account of the reign of this great 
king, let us glance at the progress made by Christianity 




Introduction of Christianity into Germany by St. Boniface. 

St. Boniface was not only a teacher of Christianity in Germany. He preached civilization, founded cities and 
endowed monasteries, which exerted a wide influence, becoming homes for learning in which the 
Benedictine monks copied, and thus preserved books. 










































42 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

during those stormy times. The early Christians, as you 
know, suffered cruel persecution and often martyrdom at 
the hands of the Romans; but nothing could check the ad¬ 
vance of the true faith, which steadily made its way through¬ 
out the south of Europe. As early as the fourth century 
the Gospels were translated into Gothic, so that the Goths 
were among the first to accept Christianity. It was em¬ 
braced by the Alemanni and other German tribes some¬ 
what later, and, at the beginning of the eighth century, 
the movement received a powerful impulse from a new 
apostle of remarkable ability and courage. 

This man was a Saxon of England, born in Devonshire 
in 680, and named Winifried. Having decided to devote 
his life to missionary labor, he spent three years in Fries¬ 
land with slight success, and then visited Rome, where he 
offered his services to the Pope, who appointed him to the 
vast work of Christianizing Central Germany. Arriving 
on the scene of his labors, his eloquence, zeal and ability 
speedily made him a leader in missionary enterprise, and 
gave him far-reaching influence. It is said that with his 
own hands he cut down at Geismar, in the land of the 
Hessians, the aged oak tree made sacred by the Druids to 
the god Thor, and planted the cross on the stump of the 
venerated Irminsol. This and similar daring acts led the 
people to believe that their own gods were dead or help¬ 
less, and they accepted by the thousands the new faith, 
though they could have known very little of its real nature 
and principles. 

When Winifried made a second visit to Rome the 
Pope appointed him Archbishop of Mayence, and ordered 



St. Boniface Building the Monastery of Fulda. 


43 










44 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

him to take henceforward the name of Bonifacius (Bene¬ 
factor), by which name and also as Saint Boniface he is 
known in history. He was confirmed in this office by 
Karl, or Carl, the German form of Charles, who felt a 
profound respect for his exalted and unselfish character. 
The spot where Saint Boniface built the first Christian 
church in Central Germany, a few miles from Gotha, at 
the foot of the Thuringian mountains, is marked to-day 
by an immense candlestick, surmounted by a golden 
flame. 

Karl, with the help of Bishop Bonifacius, devoted 
himself vigorously to regulating the affairs of his realm, 
and the prospect was that a long and peaceful rule was 
before him ; but at this juncture all Europe was threatened 
by an awful peril. The Saracens, coming across from 
Africa, defeated the Visigoths in 711, and their resistless 
army finally overran Spain, of which it took possession. 
Then the leader of this immense armed host, Viceroy of 
the Caliph of Damascus, determined to conquer France 
and to force the religion of Mohammed upon Europe. 

The danger was a fearful one, and the Eastern Empire, 
France, Italy and England, turned to Karl as the only 
human instrument that could avert this calamity. He pre¬ 
pared for the mighty struggle. When the Saracens came 
across .the Pyrenees their warriors numbered 350,000, and 
they brought with them their wives and children, with 
never a doubt that they would occupy the new land. Karl, 
with amazing energy, summoned the whole military 
strength of his kingdom, so that his army was about the 
equal in numbers of the invaders. On a day in October, 


45 


Moulding of the Empire. 

732, the two tremendous hosts faced each other near the 
city of Poitiers (almost pwi'-te-a ). Six days were spent in 
preparation, and then one of the grandest battles of the 
world opened; for who shall attempt to weigh the con¬ 
sequences of defeat to the Christians ? 

The Saracens rushed forward with their usual daring 
and dash, but, to quote the words of an old historian, “the 
Franks, with their strong hearts and powerful bodies, stood 
like a wall, and hewed down the Arabs with their hands.” 
When darkness at last settled over the field, 200,000 dead 
and wounded were stretched upon the ground. Karl had 
held his position, and made his dispositions to renew the 
battle the next morning ; but when day broke no enemy 
was in sight. The Saracens, checked in their victorious 
march for the first time, had retreated, leaving their camp 
and stores behind, and among the myriad dead was the 
Viceroy of the Caliph of Damascus. The tide of inva¬ 
sion was rolled back, and the cause of Islam in Europe 
was ruined beyond all hope at the battle of Tours. From 
that day Karl was called by the surname of Martel (the 
H ammer), and as Charles Martel he figures on the pages 
of history. 

Karl was kept busy suppressing rebellions in different 
quarters of his realm, which you must remember included 
France as well as Germany. Worn out at last by his 
marches and battles, he died in 741, fifty years old, after a 
reign of twenty-seven years. Shortly before his death he 
called a council of the princes and nobles, and secured their 
pledge that his eldest son Carloman should succeed him as 
Royal Steward of Germany, and his second son, Pepin, 
should be Royal Steward of France and Burgundy. 


46 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


Pepin, the second son, was surnamed the “ Short,” be¬ 
cause of his stature, which was only four and a half feet. 
Now, you will smile when I tell you that Pepin had a son 
who was almost seven feet in height; but that same son be¬ 
came one of the greatest men in human history, and I shall 
soon have a good deal to relate about him. Father and 
son must have made a strange picture when they took a 
stroll together. 

In the year 747 Carloman resigned his power and 
went to Pome, where he became a monk. This left Pepin 
sole ruler, and he proved himself to be an able one. He 
conquered and held in check all the surrounding nations, 
and extended the kingdom of the Franks to the Mediter¬ 
ranean and the Pyrenees. Feeling the absurdity of wear¬ 
ing only the title of major domus, he threw it aside and 
took that of king. In order to win the support of the 
church, he applied to the Pope to sanction the act, and the 
Pope did so. Pepin was recognized as King of the Franks 
at the Diet of Soissons, (almost swi-son'), and two years 
later the Pope crossed the Alps to ask Pepin to aid 
him against the Longobard king. Pepin was prompt to 
comply, and on the occasion the Pope consecrated Pepin 
and his two sons, Carloman and Charles, as Kings of the 
Franks. At the same time he issued a ban of excommu¬ 
nication against all persons who should support a monarch 
belonging to any other than the reigning dynasty. Pepin 
greatly strengthened the influence of the church by gifts 
of land, by increasing the privileges of the priesthood, 
and by allowing in many cases civil ]X)wer to the ecclesi¬ 
astical synods. He died in 768, 


CHAPTER IV. 


CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS CARLOYINGIAN SUCCESSORS. 

771-918. 

N OW, I propose to tell you something about that seven- 
foot son of Pepin the Short. He was twenty-five 
years old when he came to the throne, and, his 
brother Carloman dying four years later, the whole empire 
was transferred to Charles, who afterward was known as 
Charlemagne (shar-le-mahn '), or Charles the Great. Thus 
he became the ruler over all of France and the greater 
part of Germany. 

Charles was a tremendous man physically, but he was 
still greater mentally, and, as I have already said, is one 
of the leading characters of history. The work which he 
faced was that of extending, securing and developing a 
great empire. He was too wise to imitate any of the 
statesmen who had gone before him, for his genius told 
him that he was confronted by new conditions, and that 
his empire must be moulded into a new civilization. Like 
such born leaders, Charlemagne believed thoroughly in 
himself. His views might be opposed by all the rest of 
the world, in which event he grimly smiled to see all the 
rest of the world wrong, and, as a rule, it must be confessed 
that his estimate of such a difference of opinion was gen¬ 
erally the correct one. 

He was despotic, which was to be expected, and his 

m 


48 Young People’s History of Germany. 

magnificent career is stained by more than one deed of 
cruelty. If a member of his own family interfered with 
his plans, Charles did not hesitate to sacrifice him. In 
those turbulent days it was impossible for him to keep 
out of war, and half his reign was thus spent, and yet he 
never failed to protect the rights of the people, and was an 
ardent friend of learning, literature and the arts. If he 
crushed the independence of nations around him, he gave 
them a better civilization in its place. 

The first people to cause Charlemagne trouble were the 
rebellious Saxons, and before he could bring them to order 
the Pope of Pome called upon him for help against the 
Longobards. Patlier curiously, the king of these Longo- 
bards was the father of Charles’ second wife, whom he had 
turned off and sent back to her home, for Charles was 
anything but a model in his marriage relations. Still 
further, the widow of the dead Car Ionian, brother of 
Charles, and her sons were living at the Longobard court. 
But that did not make the least difference to Charles, who 
led a jiowerful army across the Alps by the pass of St. 
Bernard, conquered all of Northern Italy and besieged 
the Longobard king in Pavia. Then marching to Pome, 
he was received by the Pope as a liberator. 

Pavia soon fell into Charles’ hands. His discarded 
wife was sent into a monastery, and the kingdom of the 
Longobards, embracing all Northern and Central Italy, 
was annexed to the Frankish Empire. The people were 
treated generously, but there was continual trouble with 
them. 

While Charles was absent in Italy, the Saxons rose ill 



Return of Charlemagne to his Home. 






































50 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

rebellion under tlieir leader, Witikind, who drove out the 
Frankish garrisons and laid waste the land as far as the 
Rhine. The king soon returned, forced them to submit, 
and had hardly turned his back when the Saxons were 
again in revolt. The following year Charles suppressed 
them with so much rigor and placed such strong garrisons 
in the country that most of them gave up hope of gain¬ 
ing their independence, as a proof of which they were 
baptized. Witikind, however, refused to submit, and fled 
to the country of the Danes. 

The Governor of Saragossa, in Spain, asked Charles 
to help him against the Moors, and the king led an army 
into that country. The cities of Saragossa and Pampeluna 
were conquered and- swore allegiance, but many of the 
people began to think the rule of the Saracen was to be 
preferred to that of the Frank. In crossing the Pyrenees, 
the rear guard of Charles was treacherously attacked in 
the Pass of Roncesvalles (ron'sa-val ), where they had no 
chance of defending themselves or of escape. They were 
crushed by great rocks rolled down upon them from above, 
among the killed being Roland, the nephew of Charles, 
the flower of chivalry, whose story has been celebrated in 
song and verse, which tell of his marvelous sword, Duranda, 
and of his silver bugle. 

Witikind made things lively for Charles while he was 
absent in Spain. He hurried back to his Saxons, and 
roused them to a new revolt. They eagerly responded, 
laying waste the land as far as Coblentz, and, entering 
Hesse and Thuringia, drove the monks out of the monas¬ 
tery of Fulda. You can well understand that Charles 



S— Ellis’ Germany , 











52 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

lost patience, and when he appeared again among his 
rebellious subjects he put them down with an iron hand. 
To prevent future uprisings, he fortified the country anew, 
set stern Frankish nobles to rule the land, planted the 
Christian priests and missionaries in many places, and 
then, believing the trouble was ended for good, he sent an 
army, largely composed of Saxons, against the Slavs and 
Sorbs, who were threatening the eastern part of his 
empire. 

This act was a costly blunder on the part of Charles, 
because Witikind again raised the flag of revolt, repulsed 
the army near the Weser, and drew to his standard all the 
Saxons whom Charles expected to fight the marplot. The 
exasperated king hastened into the country once more, with 
an army too powerful to be withstood, and Witikind was 
obliged again to take refuge among the Danes. The king 
demanded all the Saxons who had deserted, and when they 
were returned to him he was so infuriated that he caused 
the whole number—4,500—to be beheaded. This is one 
of the darkest stains on the memory of the great Charle¬ 
magne. 

The next step of the king was a characteristic one. 
He issued an act introducing Christianity by force, and 
punishing with death all who refused to accept it. The 
Saxons, instead of being frightened into, submission, united 
in a desperate resistance. Witikind came back from Den¬ 
mark, and led in a new and more determined rebellion in 
783. But the armies of Charles were resistless, and 
stamped out all opposition. Finally, in 785, Witikind 
himself professed conversion and made his submission. 


Charlemagne and his Carlovingian Successors. 53 

His example was generally followed by the rest of the 
Saxons, who indulged in no more revolts, and in time 
came to be one of the strongest supports of the empire. Then 
the Danes were driven back, Bavaria was added to the 
empire, and the enemies in Hungary were conquered. 

The glory of Charles was now at its height. His realm 
extended from the Elbe to Apulia and from the Ebro to 
Hungary. Other nations sought his friendship, and even 
the rich rulers of Persia and India sent him valuable 
presents, among which were a white elephant and the first 
clock ever brought to Europe. 

In the year 799 the Pope came to Germany to beg 
Charles’ help against his enemies. The potentate was 
escorted back by an imposing company of nobles, and 
soon afterward Charles himself followed. On New Year’s 
Day, 809, Leo III. crowned him with a golden crown in 
the Church of St. Peter. Individuals from almost every 
nation of the West were gathered in the metropolis of the 
Christian church, and the temple held a vast multitude. 
After high mass, when Charles knelt at the altar, the Pope 
brought forth an Imperial crown and set it upon his head, 
and the people exclaimed: “Charles Augustus, crowned 
by the Almighty, the great and peace-bringing Emperor 
of the Homans. Hail, all hail and victory!” Thus 
Charlemagne was emperor as well as king. 

The monarch having secured, as he believed, his vast 
empire, now gave his energies to the introduction of learn¬ 
ing, arts and culture into Germany. He displayed the 
same vigor that marked his military campaigns. Schools 
were founded and endowed, bishoprics and sees established, 


54 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

excellent singers and organists brought from Rome, and lie 
surrounded himself with learned scholars, of whom he 
spoke as his “ Academy.’’ Splendid palaces and churches 
were built under his direction, the most famous being the 
cathedral at Aix la Chapelle {akes-lah-sha-pel '). He 
dearly loved his country, and neglected nothing that prom¬ 
ised to improve it in any way or add to its prosperity. 

As years crept upon him, Charlemagne, inspired by 
noble aspirations for Germany, made his plans for the 
sons who were to succeed him; but the two most promising 
passed away before the close of his life, and Louis, who 
remained, was the weakest of them all. Charlemagne 
died in the latter part of January, 814, his last words 
being: “Lord, into Thy hands do I commit my soul.” 
The body, amid the mourning of the whole nation, was 
taken to the vault of the church which he built, there 
clothed in all the imperial robes, with a golden gospel opened 
on his knees, a piece of the original holy cross upon his head 
and a pilgrim’s scrip around his loins. He was set in an 
upright position in a marble chair, the vault filled with 
frankincense, spices, balsam and many costly article^, and 
then closed and sealed up. 

The son who now became ruler of the whole Frankish 
empire has already been spoken of as Louis, who was 
surnamed the Pious. His tastes were more Roman than 
German, and he was much better fitted for the church 
than for the duties of a ruler over a great and turbulent 
people. After reigning for three years he reached this 
conclusion himself, for he divided the vast empire among 
his three sons, Lothaire, Pepin and Louis. Some time 


Charlemagne and his Carlovingian Successors. ' 55 

after, a fourth son, called Charles the Bald, was born of a 
second wife, and Louis thought he ought to make some 
changes in the former division of his empire for the benefit 
of the last arrival. The other three were angered, and in 
830 began a war against their father, which lasted until 
his death. The war was a shameless one in many respects, 
being viciously bitter and attended with no decisive results. 
Louis, the father, was conrpelled to suffer many indignities 
at the hands of his son Lothaire, and hostilities were still 
active when Louis the Pious died in 840. 

Now, observe how this fine family quarrel went on. 
Lothaire, being the eldest son, insisted that he had a right 
to rule the whole Frankish empire, but his brothers 
couldn’t agree to that, ; so they united against Lothaire and 
overthrew him. Lothaire then promised the Danes and 
Saxons that if they would help him he would grant inde¬ 
pendence to the Saxons. They seized this bait, and kept 
up the fighting for three years; but matters did not go 
right for them, and in 843 Lothaire was obliged to sign 
the Treaty of Verdun, which divided the empire into 
three independent kingdoms—Louis receiving Germany; 
Charles, France, and Lothaire, Italy. 

Note here an important fact: the Treaty of Verdun 
marks the beginning of French and German nationality. 
From that time forward France and Germany must be 
spoken of as separate kingdoms. 

The Emperor Lothaire, as if pursued by the spirit of 
the father against whom he had offended, retired to a con¬ 
vent, where he died in 862. The crown descended to his 
eldest son, Louis II., but he was powerless to prevent his 


56 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

uncles, Charles the Bald and Louis the German, from 
robbing him of his heritage. He lived but a short time, 
dying in 875, when Louis arid Charles again wrangled, 
and finally appealed to the Pojie to decide which of them 
should assume the Italian crown and the Imperial dignity. 
One result of this appeal was that the Pope in time claimed 
the exclusive right to decide how these crowns should be 
disposed of. Then Louis the German died, and Charles 
the Bald attempted to seize all the territory on the left 
bank of the Rhine; but when Louis the German and his 
two elder sons passed away the empire fell to the youngest, 
known as Charles the Fat, whom the Pope crowned as 
emperor. 

Thus the grand empire of Charlemagne was once more 
united, though for the last time, under the rule of a Car- 
lovingian emperor, but he who was at the head was too 
weak to hold the reins. Finding himself threatened by 
the Slavs and Czechs on the east and the Normans on the 
west, instead of rallying his countrymen and crushing 
them, as Charlemagne would have done, he was cowardly 
enough to buy peace by the payment of enormous bribes. 
Then internal troubles broke out, and, since he was unable 
to control them, the German nobles deposed Charles the 
Fat in 887, and he died the following year. Arnold, his 
nephew, was chosen as his successor, and thereby the old 
hereditary system was displaced by the elective. 

Arnold proved a good ruler. He reduced the Nor¬ 
mans to order, but in order to subdue the fierce tribes in 
Bohemia he was obliged to call upon the Magyars who 
had settled in Hungary. Hying in 899, Arnold was sue- 


House of Saxony and Franconia. 57 

ceeded by his seven-year-old son, Louis the Child, who was 
chosen King of Germany. He died at the age of eighteen, 
without being able to bring order out of the confusion that 
reigned everywhere. The duchies, too, began to assert 
themselves, and Conrad of Franconia was selected as em¬ 
peror, the Carlovingian line having become extinct in 911 
with the death of Louis the Child. 

Conrad proved unequal to the great task confronting 
him, his most powerful enemy being Duke Henry of Sax¬ 
ony, and him Conrad named on his deathbed in 918 as 
the one and only man whose abilities fitted him to govern 
the vast empire; and the wisest thing done by Conrad 
was when he sent his brother to offer the crown to Henry. 


CHAPTER V. 

house of saxony, 919-1024; of franconia, Restored , 
1024-1125; and of saxony again , 1125-1138. 

I N order to keep the history of Germany clear in our 
minds, let us recall that after the degenerate grand¬ 
sons of Charlemagne fought over the division of the 
mighty empire left by that great man it w T as divided into 
three portions—France, Germany and Italy—of which 
Germany, in 843, fell to the lot of Louis II. In 911 the 
Carlovingian line became extinct, whereupon the great 



58 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

princes of Germany and the leading dignitaries of the 
church, who formed the Diet or Great Council, took upon 
themselves the right of electing the emperor, subject to 
the approval of the Pope, who alone could crown him. 

At that time Germany was occupied by several races, 
chief of which were the Franks, the Saxons, the Bavarians 
and the Suabians. You have learned that the Diet chose 
Conrad of Franconia, who died in 918, having on his 
deathbed sent an offer of the crown to his most powerful 
enemy, Henry I., Duke of Saxony. When the messengers 
set out to carry the formal offer of the crown to the Duke, 
they found him on the Hartz Mountains, flying his hawks, 
which was one of the principal amusements of the nobility. 
It is because of this incident that the first emperor of the 
Saxon dynasty is referred to in history as Henry the Fowler. 

This ruler was a great man, who used all his energy 
and ability in building up his realm and bringing about 
a lasting peace, under which alone true prosperity and 
progress could be secured. The dukes were all powerful, 
some of them being richer than the king, with even 
greater resources at their command. Naturally, they 
were jealous of their own rights, and resented any inter¬ 
ference on the part of their nominal ruler. But by tact, 
firmness and wisdom, Henry secured their support. 

One grave peril was on the frontiers, for the emperors 
were often called to Italy to fight for their possessions 
there, and thus left Germany so weak at home that she 
tempted her warlike neighbors. The most dangerous of 
these were the Magyars. They were so numerous and 
powerful that Henry showed his wisdom by making a truce 



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60 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

instead of going to war with them. Then he set to work 
to reorganize the army. A fine soldier himself, he taught 
the Saxons how to use cavalry, and gave them practical 
lessons in war by making several minor campaigns against 
the Slavs. After this he built so many fortresses, castles 
and towns, especially in Saxony and Thuringia, that he is 
often referred to as the “ Builder of Towns.” 

Henry made Bohemia tributary to the German empire, 
and subdued the Suabians. Then the nine years’ truce 
with the Magyars, or Hungarians, having expired in 934, 
they sent an order to Henry to pay them tribute. How 
do you suppose the emperor answered the impudent 
demand? He took a wretched, mangy dog, cropped its 
ears and tail, and sent it to the Hungarians as his “black¬ 
mail,” which was the term. 

The insult enraged the Magyars. They swore they 
would have vengeance; they would invade Germany and 
show no quarter to their foes, who should all be put to the 
sword. And the wild men, panting for revenge, swarmed 
into Saxony and met Henry at Merseburg. In a furious 
battle the Hungarians were utterly defeated and thousands 
massacred. The people were so thankful for their deliver¬ 
ance that they hailed Henry as the “Father of his 
Country.” 

The Danish sea-robbers were a continual torment. 
They laid waste the northern coasts and caused so much 
suffering that Henry invaded Denmark, conquered the sea- 
kings, compelled them to pay tribute to Germany, and 
Schleswig was added to the German empire. 

This great king made war only when it was necessary, 


61 



House of Saxony and Franconia 

his chief pleasure being in building up his empire from 
within. He was devoted to the church, and founded 
many new bishoprics and sees in the North to help the 
spread of Christianity, while his reform measures, both 
civil and religious, were highly important. So you will 
admit I was right when I said that the wisest thing done 


The Last Tribute to the Magyars. 

by Conrad of Franconia was his offer of the German 
crown to Henry, Duke of Snxony. He died in 936, at 
the age of sixty, having secured the promise of the Diet 
to make his oldest son Otto (also spelled Otlio) his suc¬ 
cessor. 














62 


Young People’s History of Germany. 



If you will look at the list of emperors and kings of 
Germany at the conclusion of this history you will see 
that Otto was crowned as king in 936, and as emperor in 

962. He was a young man, 
and took upon himself the 
name of the Lion, or the 
Great, when he married the 
widow of the King of Nor¬ 
mandy, and made that king¬ 
dom a fief (which is the 
French name for an estate 
in lands held of a feudal 
superior) of Germany. He 
was very ambitious and eager 
to win for himself a name 
like that of his greatancestor 
Charlemagne. The duchies 
and bishoprics were held 
firmly in hand, and he placed 
them in charge of whom he 
pleased. The Hungarians 
renewed their invasions, but, 
in doing so, made as great a 
mistake as when they fought 
his father, for Otto defeated 
them in a great battle in Bavaria. Then, when the Duke of 
Lombardy revolted, he led a powerful army across the Alps 
and subdued him. At Milan he received the iron crown 
of the Lombards, and was crowned by the Pope Emperor 
of the West, just as Charlemagne had been. This, as you 


Statues of Otto the Great and his wife 
Editha in the Minster at Magdeburg. 




House of Saxony and Franconia. 


63 


will remember, was in 962, liis title being Kaiser ( ccesai •). 
During his reign the Hartz silver mines were discovered. 
He was an ardent patron of letters, and had a school in 
his palace, though, strange to say, the emperor himself 
was never able to read or write. He died in 973. 

His son, Otto II., succeeded to the crown as “ King of 
Germany and Kaiser of the Holy Homan Empire.” He 
is sometimes referred to as the Red King, or the Bloody. 
His whole reign was a series of wars. His great ambition 
was to unite Germany and Italy into 
one kingdom, but he failed, as has every 
emperor who made the attempt. He de¬ 
feated the Saracens in Lower Italy and 
conquered Naples and Tarentum; but 
the Greek emperor invited the Sara¬ 
cens again into Italy, and in a battle 
with them Otto was overwhelmed, and 
came very near losing his life. He re¬ 
turned to Home to prepare another expedition, and while 
there received news of fresh rebellions at home. Then 
he died so suddenly in 983 that many historians believe 
it was due to poison, for that was one of the means often 
employed among all classes, high and low, to remove a 
hated person. 

Since the emperor was but twenty-eight years of age 
when he died, his son, known as Otto 111., was too young to 
administer the government, for he was only three years old. 
This youth gained the name of the Wonder of the World, 
because of his remarkable attainments. His instructor 
was Gerbert, afterward Pope Sylvester II., who himself 



Coin of Otto the Great. 


64 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

was one of the most accomplished scholars of his age. 
His attainments caused him to be looked upon as a magi¬ 
cian. Among the many inventions he made was the bal¬ 
ance-clock, which was used until supplanted by the 
pendulum in 1650. After acting as the teacher of Otto 
III. Gerbert was placed at the head of the school at 
Rheims, which he made one of the first in Europe. 
Robert, afterward King of France, was among his pupils. 
Gerbert was called to the Papal chair on the death of Gre¬ 
gory V., and administered affairs with much prudence and 
moderation. He was the first French Pope. 

Otto III. was a dreamer when he began his reign at 
the age of sixteen, the government of the empire having 
been conducted during his minority by his grandmother, 
Adelaide, and by the Archbishop of Cologne. His aim 
was to introduce the customs of the Byzantine court and 
to make Rome the capital of the empire. He crossed 
into Italy three times, and was crowned as emperor by 
Pope Gregory II., the first German Pontiff. Having for¬ 
mally acknowledged the Duke of Poland as a separate 
ruler, he raised the Polish territories to the rank of a 
kingdom. While on his third visit to Rome he died un¬ 
married in 1002, not quite twenty-two years of age. 

The German nobles now chose Duke Henry of Bava¬ 
ria as German king. He was a great grandson of Henry 
I., and was crowned at Mentz and Aix-la-Chapelle, at the 
age of thirty, and two years later was crowned King of 
Lombardy at Pavia. 

Henry II. had a stormy reign, as did most of those 
who had gone before and who came after him. The 


65 


House of Saxony and Franconia. 



Polish ruler refused to pay tribute to him, and, haying 
annexed Bohemia to his dominions, he invaded Germany. 
A war followed, which lasted several years, when Henry 
made a treaty with him, ac¬ 
knowledging the independ¬ 
ence of Poland and holding 
Bohemia as a fief of Germany. 

Then Henry turned his atten¬ 
tion to Italy, where a revolt 
had occurred. He captured 
and burned Pavia and de¬ 
feated the Greeks in Southern 
Italy. Henry was a very pious 
king, and held in such high 
favor by the church that he 
was canonized or made saint. 

He died in Germany in 1024, 
and was the last of the Saxon 


emperors. 

The Franconian dynasty 

was restored when Conrad H., HenrT „. Receiving the Crown, the Holy 
son of Henry, Duke of Fran- Lance, and the Imperial Sword, 
conia, was elected King of Miniature from Henry’s missal and pre- 

Germany. By llis marriage sented by him to the Cathedral of 
J J . o Bamburg. 

he annexed the kingdom ot 

Burgundy to the empire in 1033. He gave Schleswig 
back to Denmark, and made a treaty of peace with Canute, 
the King, and with England; was crowned with the iron 
crown of Lombardy, and received the submission of all 
the cities in Northern Italy. He died in Germany in 

















66 Young People’s History of Germany. 


1039, a year after his return from his last Italian expedi¬ 
tion. 



A Trial by God’s Judgment. 

The Empress Kunigunde, wife of 
Henry II., is shown walking over hot 
plowshares, led by a bishop on each 
side. 

becoming a fief of the Ger¬ 
man crown. He brought 
general peace and security 
to the country, and justly 
ranks among the best of the 
early rulers of Germany. 
Unfortunately, he died in 
1056, while only thirty-nine 
years old. It may interest 
you to know that Henry 
III. had such intensely black 
hair that he is often called 
the Black King. 


Henry III., son of the 
former, was twenty-two years 
old when he came to the 
throne. He was able and 
energetic, as he had need to 
be, for war flamed continu¬ 
ally on his frontiers, Poland 
and Bohemia seethed with 
revolt and the Duke God¬ 
frey in Lorraine had to be 
restrained. Henry replaced 
the King of Hungary on 
the throne, that country thus 



The Empress Kunigunde, adored as a 
saint, her innocence of infidelity to 
her husband proven, having stood the 
ordeal without being burned. 


I must not forget to tell you about the conflicts which 
Henry III. had with the church. The Normans made 















House of Saxony and Franconia. 


67 


such dangerous advances in the south of Italy, that the 
Pope led. an army against them. He was defeated and 
taken prisoner, but made terms with the brave invaders 
by giving them the province of Apulia to hold in fief. 
This opened such a strife in the church that at one period 
there were three Popes reigning at the same time. At 
this point Henry stepped for¬ 
ward, called a council of the 
church, the Synod of Sutri, 
deposed two of the Popes and 
compelled the third to abdi¬ 
cate. Then he chose a Pope 
and received the imperial 
crown from him. Afterward 
he created three more Pon¬ 
tiffs, and ordered that no more 
Popes should be consecrated 

without the sanction of the c . . . _ „ . T _ _ 

Seal of the Emperor Conrad II. 1031. 

emperor. 

Henry IV. was only five years old when his father 
died. His excellent mother, Queen Agnes, acted as regent 
until the son reached the age of fifteen. The extrava¬ 
gance of the court, the overbearing conduct of the young 
king, the heavy taxes and his personal vices caused an in¬ 
surrection among the Saxons, which he was not able to 
subdue until 1075. In that year he invaded Saxony, won 
a great battle and desolated their country with fire and 
sword. 

His authority being established, he was now compelled 
to face a far different and much graver conflict, which was 

6— Ellis’ Germany. 



68 


Young People’s History of Germany. 



with Pope Gregory VII., formerly a German monk named 
Hildebrand. This able pontiff set to work to free the 
church from its abuses, and to make its authority supreme 

over the civil. He forbade 
the buying and selling of 
ecclesiastical offices by the 
emperor, ordered that the 
clergy should not marry, 
and that the right of giving 
away high places in the 
church should be taken 
wholly out of the hands of 
laymen. He gained many 
wealthy and powerful sup¬ 
porters, but the Pope’s 
orders were hotly opposed 
in Germany. The climax 
was reached when Henry 
refused to part with the 
bishops and counsellors 
whom the Pope had ex¬ 
communicated. 

The Pontiff now launched 
his most terrifying weapon 
against the king, whom he 
not only excommunicated, but whose empire was placed 
under an interdict , as it is called. 

By this the offices of the church were stopped throughout 
the country. No mass was said, no churches opened, the 
bells were silent, there could be no marrying nor services 


The Great Hall of the Imperial House 
at Goslar, Arranged for a Diet. 
Time of Henry IV. 








Henry III. 


The Synod of Sntru 

Pope Sylvester III. Deposed by the Emperor, 




























































































































70 Young People’s History of Germany. 

for the dead; Catholics were released from their allegi¬ 
ance to the emperor, and it was declared that any one who 
slew him would be rendering a service to God. The fear¬ 
ful significance of all this brought Henry to his senses, 
for he could not feel sure of his Saxon vassals, and a ses¬ 
sion of princes and nobles, held at Tribur, in 1076, de¬ 
clared themselves free to disown him if the Pope did not 
remove the ban by February of the following year. 

The next picture of the king shows him making his 
way in midwinter across the Alps to beg for mercy from 
the indignant Pope. On the 25th of January, 1077, lie 
appeared before the gates of Canossa, in Italy, where the 
Pope was staying, and begged to be admitted to the pres¬ 
ence of the Pontiff. The latter was not ready, and, in¬ 
credible as it may seem, kept him waiting for three days, 
barefoot and in the bitter cold, before he allowed him to 
come in and prostrate himself before him. After the 
king had wept, whined for forgiveness and groveled in the 
very dust, he was given absolution, and the ban was re¬ 
moved. 

When Henry left the presence of the Pope he was 
stung to madness by the humiliation put upon him. He 
hurriedly raised an army and conquered Rudolf of Suabia, 
whom the Pope had caused to be elected in his place. 
Then, as if growing more furious with his successes, he 
marched into Italy, in 1084, captured Rome, declared 
Gregory dej)osed, drove him into exile at Salerno, in 
Southern Italy, and ordered the election of a new Pope. 
Henry died in 1106. It is said that a curse seemed to 
rest upon the latter part of his life. His wife was un- 



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72 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


faithful, liis sons rebelled against him, and finally he was 
compelled to abdicate in favor of his son Henry. Then 
he became a homeless beggar, to whom people refused 
food and shelter. He was found dead on the doorsteps of 
a religious house in Liege, from which he had been turned 
away. The body lay for five years in a cellar, when, the 
ban having been removed, it was buried at Spires. 

Henry V. has been called the Parricide, because he 
deposed his father. Although he had been encouraged to 
this by the Pope, he was determined not to give up any 
of his imperial rights to the church. A quarrel, therefore, 
broke out at once, but after awhile a sort of jieace was 
patched up, only to start up anew, until the people grew 
weary and the emperor and Pope reached a compromise, 
by which Papal influence was much extended in Ger¬ 
many. Henry died in 1125 without heirs, and was there¬ 
fore the last of the Frankish line. 


Lothaire, Duke of Saxony, was elected as German 
king and ruled until 1138. He greatly strengthened the 
empire, all nations acknowledging his power. The Pope 
having summoned him to help repel the Norman invaders 
of his kingdom, Lothaire did so, but on his way back to 


CHAPTER VI. 


HOUSE OF SUABIA, OR HOHENSTAUFFEN. 1138-1254. 

I NSTEAD of electing Henry the Proud, the powerful 
son-in-law of Lothaire, as king of Germany, the 
nobles chose Conrad III., the first of the House 
of Holienstauffen (-stow'fen), or Suabia. This house was 
founded by Frederick von Biiren, who lived about 1040. 

Guelph, brother of Henry the Proud, made war against 
the new king, but was defeated and compelled to take re¬ 
fuge in Weinsburg, to which Conrad laid siege in 1140. 
The town was a small one, but it offered the most deter¬ 
mined resistance to the king, only to fall in the end. Con¬ 
rad was so enraged by the valiant and prolonged defence, 
of the place that he determined to burn it to the ground 
and to put to death all the men within the walls, but he 
gave the women permission to depart free, taking with them 
their most valued treasures. 

The next day when the gates were opened out came 
each wife with her husband on her back, each sister with 
a brother, or young lady with her lover (provided there 
were enough men to furnish the funny loads) perched on 
her shoulders. The astounded king was so touched by 
the novel sight that he not only pardoned the rebels but 
spared the city. 

Conrad was begged to go to the aid of the Papal j^ower 
in Rome, which was threatened by Arnold of Breschia 

(73) 


74 Young Peoples History of Germany. 

(brestie-a ), but lie refused, promising, however, to lead a 
crusade into the Holy Land. Those crusades, as I have 
explained in the histories of England and of France, pro¬ 
fessed to be for the object of wresting Palestine from the 
Saracens or infidels, and especially to secure protection to 
Christian pilgrims while visiting the tomb of the Saviour 
at Jerusalem. Such I say was the professed purpose of 
the crusades, and doubtless it was that motive which ac¬ 
tuated many who took part in them. Love of adventure, 
the longing for excitement and the sight of strange lands, 
and the greed for plunder moved others, while back of 
all this the real leaders and movers in those grotesque 
travesties upon religion were stirred by the hope of con¬ 
quest, treasure and the extension of domain. 

You will find in our history of France a full account 
of the different crusades to the Holy Land, in some of 
which England, France and Germany took part. The 
second crusade was composed of two immense armies, 
numbering fully a million of men, under Louis VII., of 
France, and Conrad III., Emperor of Germany, who were 
then the two most powerful monarchs of Europe. They set 
out in 1147, but, owing to the treachery of the Greek em¬ 
peror, met with repeated disasters, and, failing to capture 
Damascus, the expedition was abandoned, only a few of 
the vast host succeeding in reaching their homes. Most of 
them were slain or made slaves by the Turks. A crusade 
was made as late as 1301 by 7,000 children, who started 
from Cologne, and crossed the Alps into Italy, where their 
members were scattered. Some remained there/some man¬ 
aged to reach the Holy Land, and very few ever got back 



“The Children’s Crusade.” 

The Turks wrested Jerusalem from the Arabs A. P. 1073. Twenty-one years later Peter the Hermit visited the Holy 
Sepulchre, and, returning to Europe, aroused Christendom to rescue it from the infidel. In all, eight crusades were 
undertaken, ultimately resulting in much good to East and West, alike. 











76 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

to Germany. Conrad died in 1152, and it should be 
remembered that he was never crowned Kaiser, being only 
King of Germany. 

One of the leaders who went with Conrad to Palestine 
was the son of Frederick, Duke of Suabia. Although a 
young man, he proved that he possessed fine qualities, and 
lie was now chosen as the successor of Conrad. He was 
immensely popular, being liked by everybody. Because 
of his fiery red beard he was called Barbarossa, which 
means Bed Beard. He proved himself a great monarch, 
for in the first year of his reign he compelled the Kings 
of Denmark, Poland and Hungary to pay him homage for 
their crowns; he made a kingdom of the Duchy of Bo¬ 
hemia, and through his marriage obtained possession of 
Burgundy. He became involved in a serious quarrel with 
the Pope, Alexander III., which resulted in Frederick’s 
excommunication, but the two met at Venice in August, 
1177, when the excommunication was removed and the 
two were fully reconciled. 

The emperor’s hardest fight was with the cities of 
Lombardy, which thought themselves powerful enough to 
demand their independence. They were defeated at first, 
but gained a decisive victory over Frederick at Legnano 
(len-yali'no ), in Northern Italy, in 1176, and secured the 
right of independent government. In 1188 Frederick 
assumed the cross and set out the following year on the 
Third Crusade, but while crossing a river in Asia, in June, 
1190, he was drowned. 

There is a strange legend connected with the death of 
Frederick Barbarossa. He was greatly beloved at home, 




77 


Meeting of the Emperor Barbarossa and Pope Alexander III. at Venice. 

The emperor fell at the feet of the Pope, who took him in his arms and gave him the kiss of peace. Then 
the Pope, himself, negotiated with the Lombard cities, and the Peace of Constance made them little 
republics with but the shadow of an empire over them. 













78 Young People's History of Germany. 

and for a long time the people refused to believe he was 
dead, but were sure he would come back to them. Some¬ 
times they were thrilled by the reports that he had ap¬ 
peared in Germany, and had been seen and spoken to by 
many of his happy subjects. But as the years passed this 

belief crystallized into the 
legend that he was living en¬ 
chanted in the Kyffhauser 
Mountain. It was said that 
he sat asleep in a castle dee]) 
under ground, before a 
marble table, through which 
his great red beard had 
grown, and that he woke up 
every hundred years to ask 
if the ravens were still fly¬ 
ing outside. When they flew 
no longer overhead, then the 
old emperor would awaken 
for good, come forth from 

The Emperor Barbarossa Asleep in the the Castle with llis army, aild 
Kyffhauser. found a grand and new em¬ 

pire. You will find many allusions to this legend in 
German literature, and it is a favorite theme with their 
poets. 

While Frederick was in Palestine, his oldest son, 
Henry VI., was regent, and he now came to the throne. 
In the same year, on the death of William II., King of 
Sicily, Henry claimed that crown in right of Constance 
his wife, daughter of King Roger. He and liis wife were 



House of Suabia, or Hohenstauffen. 


79 


crowned at Rome in 1191, and lie made an unsuccessful 
attempt to conquer Naples. It was Henry who secured 
from Leopold, Duke of Austria, the royal prisoner, 
Richard I. of England, who had been 
captured while making his way through 
that country homeward on his return 
from Palestine. Henry kept the “ Lion- 
Hearted” a prisoner for nearly a year, 
and then released him on the payment 
of a heavy ransom. 

Henry formed an ambitious scheme 
of conquering the Greek Empire and 
Africa as well. He was crowned at 
Palermo in 1194, and was absorbed in 
laying his plans when he died of a 
complaint which is the rarest known 
among kings and emperors: he drank 
too much water from a cold spring. 

From this time forward to the begin¬ 
ning Of the Hapsburg line, in 1273, Stone Relief of the Em- 
there was so much turmoil that it is P*!™ Bar J?f, ros ^ ? n a 
useless to give the particulars. Y ou will 
find the full list of the rulers at the 
conclusion of this history; but some 
of them are not entitled to any notice, 
the German emperors at that period was Frederick II., 
grandson of Barbarossa, who ruled from 1215 to 124b. 
He was highly intellectual and cultured, and his court at 
Palermo was famous for its magnificence and splendor. 
He was an accomplished monarch, and compelled, through 



of St. Zeno at Reichen- 
lmll, in the Raw Art of 
the Twelfth Century. 

The greatest of 





80 Young People’s History of Germany. 

his obligations to the Pope, to undertake two expeditions 
to the Holy Land. The first was a failure, but the second 
was successful. There was no end to his contests with the 

Italian cities and the 
Papacy until his death 
hi 1250, when he was suc¬ 
ceeded by Conrad IV., 
who reigned but four 
years. He left an infant 
son, only two years old, 
Co n rad in (Little Con¬ 
rad), who was carefully 
reared and educated, and 
would have been crowned 
at the age of ten had not 
the Pope opposed it. 

Upon the death of Con¬ 
rad IV. the Pope claimed 
that Naples and Sicily 
were forfeited to the 
church,and liegaveSicily 
to Charles of Anjou, 
brother of Louis IX. of 
France. The ruling king 
was the uncle of Conradin, 
and, making resistance to the Pope, he was slain. Deter¬ 
mined to avenge the death of his uncle, Conradin raised a 
considerable force and marched into the territory of Naples. 
He was defeated and made prisoner by Charles, who 
ordered him to be executed, Conradin and his friend, 



Statue of the Emperor Frederick II. in 
Palermo. 





The Emperor Frederick II. Receives an Embassy from the Sultan Saladin. 

There was much curious learning among the Saracens, especially in mathematics and chemistry, studies in 
which Frederick delighted. He made a ten years’ truce with them, freeing, for that length of time, 
Jerusalem from the presence of the infidel. 








82 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


Frederick of Baden, also a mere boy, were led to the 
scaffold, while the brutal Charles sat at a window of his 

palace, gloating over 
the scene. Only the 
presence of the royal 
guards prevented a re¬ 
volt by the sympa¬ 
thetic spectators. 
While standing on the 
scaffol d, C o n r a d i n 
threw his glove among 
his friends, that some 
one might take it up 
and avenge his death. 
“O mother,” he ex¬ 
claimed, “ what sorrow 
I have caused thee ! ” 
and then knelt to re¬ 
ceive the fatal blow. 
Fourteen others, in¬ 
cluding Frederick of 
Baden, were executed 
at the same time. 
Thus died in 1268, 
at the age of sixteen, 
the last of the Hohen- 
stauffens. Fourteen 
years later occurred the massacre of the Sicilian Vespers , 
when 8,000 French were slain, and the detested Charles 
of Anjou was driven from Sicily. 



Effigies of “Henry the Lion ” and his Wife Mech- 
tiid in the Minster of Brunswick, Built by 
Himself A. d. 1172-1194. 








83 

Execution of Conradin, the Last of the HohenstaufFens. 


Conradin threw his glove into the throng. It was picked up and brought to 
Peter III. of Aragon, whose descendants afterwards ruled over Sicily. 

7 — Ellis' Germany. 




































84 


Young People s History of Germany. 

Now comes one of the darkest periods in German 
history. Lasting from 1254 to 1278, it is called the Great 
Interregnum, when the country was filled with feudal 
castles, with robber barons, with quarreling, fighting, 
drinking, carousing, ignorance, outlawry, crime—when 
might alone made right, and life and property were never 
secure. The Italian republics had become independent, 
and the rest of Germany was composed of dukedoms, 
principalities, bishoprics, held together by the flimsiest of 
threads. As you will notice, there were three persons who 
bore the name of king, but you will also notice that in each 
case the title was “merely nominal.” 

As has been said, many of the vassals were richer than 
the king, and had as much power. All that they owed to 
him was military service, and when that was rendered they 
did as they pleased without asking permission of him. It 
may be said that there was almost no morality or religion, 
though many professed it. Men were coarse and brutal of 
speech and in their conduct, and a person guilty of the 
most shameless crimes had no trouble in settling it with a 
fine called a moneybote. 

The peasants or serfs lived like animals in miserable 
hovels near the castle to whose lord they looked for 
protection. In the towns you would find wooden houses, 
with rude conveniences. The castles were vast, gloomy 
structures, standing on some high hill or place that it was 
almost impossible to reach. Surrounded by massive walls, 
ditches, drawbridges and everything that tended to give 
strength and security, the owner might bid defiance to all 
enemies, for, when the use of gunpowder was unknown, 


House of Suabia, or Holienstauffen. 


85 


the walls were impregnable to the rude implements of 
warfare. Some of the castles did sustain sieges lasting for 
many months, with no other inconvenience to the defenders 
than that of being held within the walls without the lib¬ 
erty of venturing forth to rob and kill whomsoever was 
unfortunate enough to fall in their way. 

With the castle and grounds covering so much area, 
water was always at 
command, while 
enough food was kept 
in store to last for 
years. From the 
towers, windows and 
tops of the walls the 
defenders launched 
their arrows from 
crossbow and bow, 
or flung down heavy 
stones on the heads 
of their besiegers, 
who perhaps, after long months of trying, were able to 
break through a wall with their battering rams and pos¬ 
sibly to overcome the garrison. 

What a weary, degrading life those people lived! 
When not engaged in war or pillage, the nobles and their 
retainers spent the time in carousing, feasting, enlivened 
now and then by bloody brawls. Rarely or never was a 
book seen in one of the castles, for, printing not being 
invented, every volume had to be copied by hand, and 
not only was costly,, but very few knew enough to write 



Wildenstein Castle. 





86 Young People’s History of Germany. 

their names. It was no uncommon thing in a castle, whose 
occupants numbered a thousand or more, that not a single 
person was able to sign his name. The women spent the 
time in embroidery, spinning, making banners, weaving 
gold fringe, or playing the harp or lute. Many of them 



German Kirmess, Showing Manners and Customs of the Peasantry, the Prevailing 
Drunkenness and Rowdyism, and that all the Peasants are Armed, 

were as fond of drinking and revelry as the men, and 
there was nothing elevating or ennobling in the routine 
through which all had to pass. 

It would be thought that the children would have a 
hard time of it, but boys and girls have always been and 
always will be the same the world over, and I have no 
doubt that they had much more enjoyable times than their 











House of Suabia, or Hohenstauffen. 


87 


older companions, except perhaps when the castles were 
undergoing assaults. In those far away days knives and 
forks were unknown, every person handling his food with 
his fingers. The platters were made of wood and the 
trenchers of pewter. Some of the grand banquets cost 
large sums of money, for the table linen came from 
Damascus; there was rich tapestry, and many of their 
drinking vessels were solid silver. Jugglers, minstrels 
and clowns were brought from a long distance to amuse 
the guests, for everything possible was done in the way of 
entertainment. 


CHAPTER VII. 

HOUSE OF HAPSBURG (1273-1308) ; HOUSE OF LUXEM¬ 
BURG AND BAVARIA (1308-1438). 

W ITH Germany torn by anarchy and split into 
warring fragments, she needed a wise, strong, 
able, stern patriot to take the helm and steer the 
ship of state past the breakers that were threatening her 
ruin, and providentially she got exactly what was needed 
in Rudolph of Hapsburg, who was a true knight, a 
thorough patriot and the man of whom the Archbishop of 
Cologne said : “ He reveres the church, he is a lover of 
justice, a man of prudent counsels and piety, beloved of 



88 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

God and man, possessing an agreeable form and counten¬ 
ance, and which, although of a stern expression, still when 
he speaks is invested with an air of affability which in¬ 
spires confidence; he possesses, besides, a hardy constitu¬ 
tion, and in his 
wars against the 
faithless he has 
always been suc¬ 
cessful.” 

So Rudolph was 
crowned King of 
Germany at Aix-la- 
Chapelle in 1273. 
Although he was 
always called “ Em¬ 
peror ” by the peo¬ 
ple, he never re¬ 
ceived or desired 
the imperial crown 
of Rome, nor did 
he ever visit that 
city. He was ac¬ 
customed to com¬ 
pare it with the 
den of a lion, into which, he grimly said, the tracks of 
many other animals led, but no tracks were seen leading 
out again. 

Rudolph met Pope Gregory X. at Lausanne ( lo-zan '), 
and formally renounced all claims to the rights held by 
the Hohenstauffens in Italy, and recognized Charles of 



Statue of Rudolph of Hapsburg in the Dome of 
Strasburg Cathedral. 
















Rudolph of Hapsburg Receives the News of his Election as Emperor of Germany. 

At the coronation of Rudolph the sceptre upon which the princes renewed their feudal tenures could not be found 
Rudolph seized a crucifix, and, holding it up, cried : “ The symbol of our redemption secures us heaven *' 
surely it is good enough to confirm to us our parcels of earth.” 





























90 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

Anjou as King of Sicily and Naples. The last thought 
that had been in the mind of Kudolph was of being chosen 
to the exalted office. It was at midnight that Frederick 
of Hohenzollern, his brother-in-law, arrived at the camp 
of Kudolph with the astonishing news. He refused at 
first to believe it, but it was confirmed, and, as I have said, 
his elevation pleased everybody. 

Kudolph devoted his time to restoring order in Ger¬ 
many, and among the first who received his unwelcome 
attentions were the robber barons. Those bloody vaga¬ 
bonds had been accustomed to plunder and murder at will, 
but they were now routed out of their nests and their 
power for evil destroyed. On one of his visits to Thur¬ 
ingia he leveled sixty-six castles to the ground and hanged 
twenty-nine nobles whose crimes had made them a terror 
to the country. One defiant prince he besieged, cap¬ 
tured and compelled to toil with his own hands in tearing 
down the walls of his massive castle. He permitted per¬ 
sons of rank, however, to build fortresses for defence 
against the freebooters. Ottokar II., the powerful King 
of Bohemia, wanted the German crown, and would not 
acknowledge Kudolph s authority. The latter outlawed 
him, and in his victory at Marchfield, near Vienna, the 
King of Bohemia was slain. Kudolph was the founder 
of the Hapsburg-Austrian dynasty, and, worn out with 
disease and cares, he died in 1291, at the age of seventy- 
four. 

Kudolph was anxious to be succeeded by his son Al¬ 
bert, but the nobles and princes dreaded the rigor and 
firmness shown by the father, and chose Adolphus of 


Houses of Hapsburg, Luxemburg and Bavaria. 91 


Nassau. He tried to follow in the policy of Rudolph, 
but lacked his capacity, and, as he grew independent, the 
nobles stirred up Albert to make war against the king. 
He did this with such success that Adolphus was killed 
in battle, and, in 1298, Albert became king, as it would 
seem he ought to have been from the first. 

But Albert was a very different man from what his 
father had been. It would 
be hard to imagine a more 
disagreeable looking person. 

In the first place, he had but 
one eye. How do you sup¬ 
pose he lost the other ? One 
time he fell ill, and his phy¬ 
sicians said he had been poi¬ 
soned. So he was hung up 
by the heels and one eye 
taken out of its socket in 
order that the poison might 

escape fiorn his head! He Seal of Adolphus of Nassau, 
was “big-nosed, loose-lipped, 

ill-mannered, grasping, selfish and overbearing.” When 
Pope Boniface heard of his election, he exclaimed in dis¬ 
gust : “ How can such a one-eyed lout be Emperor of the 
Romans!” The Pope refused to sanction his election 
and excommunicated him, but was afterward reconciled to 

him. . 

Albert aimed to bring several countries under subjec¬ 
tion, but was only partly successful. His hopes were 
turned upon Thuringia, Bohemia and Holland, and in 



92 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


the spring of 1308 he went to his hereditary estates on 
the borders of Switzerland to make peace among the in¬ 
surgent Swiss and to procure forces with which to press a 
war against Bohemia. His companion was John of Suabia, 
the son of his brother Rudolph, from whom he unjustly 
withheld his share of the Hapsburg estates. John entered 
into a plot with several knights, and, after crossing the 

Reuss River, they suddenly 
fell upon the king and 
stabbed him to death. 

I am sure you have heard 
the anecdote of William Tell, 
which belongs to this period. 
The story is that Gesler, the 
Austrian governor, ordered 
Tell to do homage to a hat 
placed on the top of a pole, 
a symbol of his tyranny, and 
for refusing to obey Tell was 
sentenced to shoot an apple 
from the head of his little son. He performed the won¬ 
derful feat without harm to his boy, but the tyrant ordered 
him imprisoned. Tell leaped ashore from a boat in a vio¬ 
lent storm on Lake Lucerne, and, turning about, launched 
an arrow from his unerring bow through the heart of the 
tyrant. The story is a pretty one, but I am compelled to 
say the best authorities agree that the incident never took 
place. I fear that it is like that other anecdote of Smith and 
Pocahontas, which we should all be glad to believe, but are 
hardly justified in doing so. 



Seal of Albert of Austria. 



Houses of Hapsburg, Luxemburg and Bavaria. 93 

Be that as it may, the valiant Swiss mountaineers rose 
in revolt against the tyranny of the House of Hapsburg, 
which from an early period held control over all the east¬ 
ern part of Switzerland. In 1307 the provinces of Uri 
( oo're ), Schwyz ( shvitz ) and Unterwalden (oon'ter-ival-den) 
entered into a confederacy for mutual aid against Austria. 
The struggle for independence lasted a number of years, 
and was attended by many incidents of heroism on the 
part of the brave men struggling for freedom. In the 
month of November, 1315, at the battle of Morgarten, the 
Austrian army, much the superior in numbers, well dis¬ 
ciplined and protected by armor, was annihilated by the 
Swiss, who rolled down masses of rocks upon their heads 
when they were crowded in a mountain pass, and then, 
with their crude weapons, attacked them with resistless 
impetuosity. 

After the death of Albert the German princes followed 
their rule of not choosing several emperors from the same 
house in succession, and elected Count Henry of Luxem¬ 
burg. He was a valiant knight, but his reign was brief, 
lasting only from 1308 to 1313. The king having been 
deposed in Bohemia, Henry got the crown for his son. 
Then in 1310 he entered Italy with the determination to 
hold his authority in Lombardy, and to renew the imperial 
power throughout the peninsula. Although crowned in 
Milan and Borne, he was bitterly resisted in all quarters. 
While waiting for reinforcements, he was seized with fever 
and died in Sienna (si-en'na) in 1313. 

Now came another dreary period of wrangling and 
fighting, in which the Luxemburg and Hapsburg lines 


94 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

opposed each other, with Louis of Bavaria the leader of 
the former and Frederick, the Handsome, leader of Haps- 
burg. Frederick soon died, and .Louis had the field to 
himself. The Papacy had its seat at Avignon ( ah-veen - 
yon'), in the south of France, from 1308 to 1378, and 
because Louis refused to submit to its demands he was 
excommunicated. Louis failed, as did all other German 
emperors, to maintain a lasting rule in Italy, and was com¬ 
pelled to return to Germany. Then the Poj)e at Avignon 
demanded that Louis should abdicate; but the electors 
decreed that the king elected by them did not require the 
Papal recognition. But Louis had made himself so dis¬ 
liked by his greed and selfish conduct, that there was a 
strong disposition to depose him. The emperor died sud¬ 
denly in 1347, and the rival King Gunther, of Schwartz- 
burg, who had been set up, lived but a short time. 

It followed, therefore, that Charles IV. was accepted 
by all parties as German king. He was the son of John 
of Luxemburg, King of Bohemia. He lost no time in 
making terms with the Pope, and was crowned at Milan 
and by the cardinals in Rome. When he came back to 
Germany he acquired a good deal of territory by treaty, 
and did much for his native Bohemia. He made his home 
at Prague, where he founded the first German university 
in 1348, and also the famous universities of Heidelberg 
and Vienna. The most important act of his reign was the 
issue of the “Golden Bull,” in 1356, by which the electors 
of the German empire and their mode of election were set 
forth. The Golden Bull was so named because it was 
inclosed in a gold case. The college of electors thus 



95 

The Battle of Morgarten. 


The Swiss peasants used their halberds, clubs and swords so well, with 
huge stones rolled down from above, that the Austrian army- 
retreated with a heavy loss. 










96 


Young People’s History of Germany. 



chosen lasted, with few changes, for 450 years, when the 
German empire was extinguished by Napoleon Bonaparte. 

During the first years 
of his reign the awful 
pestilence known as 
the “ Black Plague” 
ravaged Europe. 
Charles died in 1378, 
having had his son 
Wenceslaus chosen 
king just before his 
death. 


Two sided Golden’ Seal of Charles IV. 



You can understand what sort 
of a ruler this individual was when 
told that among the titles by which 
he is remembered is that of “ The 
Worthless” and of ‘‘Lazy Wenzel.” 

He was moody, slothful, a drunk¬ 
ard and had an ugly temper. All 
he cared for was the pursuit of 
gross pleasures, and so long as he 
could be gratified the country might 
go to the dogs so far as he was con¬ 
cerned. Miniature from the “ Golden 

And it may almost be said Bull” of Charles iv. 
that that is what took place, until, Tll f Emp f or Charles iv. in 
losing all patience, the nobles Wenzel,on his right,Bishops 

deposed him in 1400, and be- 0,1 llls lefL lland * 
stowed the crown upon Bupert of the Palatinate. Lazy 
Wenzel roused himself to fight against this, and Bu- 















Houses of Hapsburg, Luxemburg and Bavaria. 97 

pert had a hard time in enforcing his own authority and 
restoring order to the empire. In the midst of the strife 
he died in 1410. 

The different electors now chose Jossus of Moravia, 
and Wenzel’s brother, Sigismund ; and as Wenzel still 
kept up his warfare for his rights, the 
empire had no less than three nuisances, 
claiming to be kings at the same time: 
but Jossus soon died, and Wenzel was 
finally persuaded to yield. So Sigis¬ 
mund was unanimously chosen German 
king in 1410. 

Sigismund had been King of Hun¬ 
gary, and because of his many accom¬ 
plishments has been called the “Light 
of the World.” His reign lasted until 
1438, and was marked by a number of 
important events. A great schism, or 
division, existed at that time in the 
church, there being one Pope in Italy, 
another in France and a third in 
Spain, each launching the ban of ex- 
communication against the others and 
those who sided with them. At last the famous 
council of the church was held in 1414 at Constance, 
and never was there a more brilliant assemblage, for, 
in addition to the Pope, there were present the patri¬ 
archs of Constantinople, twenty-two cardinals, twenty 
archbishops, ninety-two bishops, one hundred and twenty- 
four abbots, one thousand eight hundred of the lower 



The “ Temple House ” 
in Cologne. 

The oldest preserved 
private dwelling in 
Germany; built in the 
beginning of the thir¬ 
teenth century. 







98 Young People’s History of Germany. 

clergy, a multitude of doctors of science and masters of 
arts, besides the graduates of the Universities of Paris, 
Orleans, Cologne, Vienna and others; some sixteen hun¬ 
dred princes, nobles, counts and knights with their re¬ 
tinues; the whole number in attendance being more 
than 100,000. 

The only Pope present was John XXIII., of Pome, 
who had convoked the assembly in the hope of having his 
opponents deposed and himself confirmed. The council, 
however, decided that the true course was to depose all 
three. Martin V. was elected and the great schism ended. 

John Huss, the most zealous and learned of the Bohe¬ 
mian professors, was rector of the University of Prague. 
He embraced the doctrines of John Wickliffe, who lived 
about thirty years before, which doctrines were at variance 
with those held by those around him. He was so radical 
and earnest in his veiws that he was ordered to appear at 
Rome to answer the charge of heresy. He did not obey, 
and was excommunicated, but he gained a great many 
friends and followers. He was now ordered to come be¬ 
fore the council at Constance, and obeyed, the emperor 
Sigismund having pledged him safe conduct, but he broke 
his pledge and allowed Huss to be arrested and thrown 
into jail. 

Huss was now commanded to recant all his doctrines, 
on pain of being condemned to die at the stake as a her¬ 
etic. Without hesitation he chose the latter, and on the 
6th of July, 1415, was led to execution. He was publicly 
burned in Constance, and his ashes cast into the Rhine, 
that they might not serve as an object of veneration to the 
Bohemians. 


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100 Young People’s History of Germany. 

This frightful crime led to a furious war, which lasted 
sixteen years. The armies of Bohemia, or Hussites, were 
led by the famous John Ziska, who by nature was proba¬ 
bly one of the greatest of all military geniuses. He had 
but one eye at the beginning of hostilities, and the re¬ 
maining eye was destroyed by an arrow, but the blind 
warrior continued to direct the Hussites with marvelous 
skill. The fanatical fury of his followers swept every 
obstacle from their path. The armies of Sigisnnmd met 
defeat after defeat. A treaty was made in 1422, by which 
the religious liberty of the Hussites in Bohemia was ac¬ 
knowledged, but the war was afterward renewed and did 
not end until 1434. 

The Hussites after a time divided into the moderate 
and the radical parties. The latter were under the direc¬ 
tion of Procopius the Great and Procopius the Little, 
who would listen to no compromise. They were as merci¬ 
less as so many jungle tigers, and committed the most 
shocking atrocities upon those whose only offence was that 
they held different opinions. Procopius the Great laid 
siege to Naumburg, in Saxony, in 1432, and there seemed 
no possible escape of the inhabitants from torture and 
death, when the little children came forth and begged 
mercy at the hands of the grim old warrior. The unex¬ 
pected sight moved his heart to show for the first and only 
time, so far.as known, kindness to the vanquished. The 
town was spared. 

While the Hussite war was under way, Sigismund 
marched against the Ottoman Turks, and defeated them in 
a great battle near Nissa, in 1419, thus checking for a con- 



The Children of Naumburg Appeal to Procopius the Great. 

The Hussites built massive wagons, which were converted into barricades for their camps, which they defended with 
clubs, scythes, flails and spears. Before these rude weapons and their inspired battle-hymns their enemies turned 
and fled, often before thev came in sight. 

» O • 















102 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

siderable time the Ottoman conquests on the eastern fron¬ 
tier. Sigismund died in 1437, at the age of sixty-nine, 
having reigned fifty-one years as King of Hungary and 
twenty-eight years as Emperor of Germany. With his 
death terminated the House of Luxemburg and Bavaria. 

I have already referred to the gallant struggle made by 
the Swiss for independence. In 1386, with an army of 
4,000 Austrian and Suabian knights, Leopold of Austria 
invaded the Cantons. The Swiss gathered 1,300 herds¬ 
men, fishers and farmers, armed with halberds and battle- 
axes, and met the invaders at Sempach, on the 9th of July. 
The fight was desperate, and for a long time no way 
opened for breaking the solid front, or of reaching the 
soldiers with their weapons. It was then that Arnold of 
Winkelreid called out : “ Brothers, I will open a way for 
you! Take care of my wife and children !” 

Then he ran forward at full speed from the ranks, 
threw himself upon the enemy, grasping with both arms 
as many of the spears as he was able, buried them in his 
body, and sank dead to the ground. Never was a braver 
deed done, and his comrades rushed through the breach 
thus made, and defeated and overthrew the Austrians. 
Duke Leopold himself and nearly 700 of his followers 
were killed, and the rest fled in all directions. The vic¬ 
tory was one of the most astonishing recorded in history. 
Two years later the Swiss won another great victory at 
Nafels, and since then they have ever remained an inde¬ 
pendent nation. 



Heroic Death of Arnold von Winkelried at the Battle of Sempach. 
Make way for liberty ’ he cried; made way for liberty, and died.” 
































CHAPTER VIII. 


HOUSE OF AUSTRIA. 1438-1745. 

S LOWLY the world was emerging from that gloomy 
period known as the Dark Ages. Men were ad¬ 
vancing in learning, in the principles of justice and 
in civilization. A few works were written and have been 
preserved to us, the famous Song of Roland having been 
given to the world in the twelfth century by a monk 
named Conrad ; but books were few and costly until a 
great impulse came with the invention of printing. 

It seems curious that it is not known with certainty 
to whom the credit is due for the invention of this art. 
The Dutch say it belongs to Laurens Coster, of Harlaem, 
who effected it in 1423, but the more general belief is that 
the invention was made by John Gutenberg, of Mentz, in 
1436. It is known that Gutenberg, in 1450, entered into 
partnership with John Faust, or Fust, the latter pro¬ 
viding the means for putting the invention to use. The 
work of printing the Bible in Latin was partly finished, 
when the partnership was dissolved, in 1455. In the fol¬ 
lowing year Gutenberg completed the printing of the 
Bible. Meanwhile, Faust had formed a partnership with 
his son-in-law, Peter Schoffer, and printed a number of 
books. The credit of the invention of printing by means 
of blocks of carved wood seems to belong to Coster, but 
Gutenberg invented the movable types, while Schoffer 
104 


House of Austria. 


105 


and Faust first founded types of metal, the part of Faust 
being that of capitalist. 

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fislfitfe fitl fuit4pfecu£odifim9r faring 
as O'er fiiedt Ktitopt'fypftoru Jptt9cf(ef fidtte t&or 
ectf fuiuj^ietu torn tern? t fuiirttttfmJaC Mb 
retiatentf fitiffet Jwotuioctfoo f fueatisCfiitseftf fit 
tfcapit ai iorti dm9f fiuintftfoa f fitcida (tit uf fittn't 
Infiiwto ma Hi nuiatpfoie tgt pmuptito fpfcQlocri 
pdto gfto t pffirpftoiatKi ccC finfft fuio tortii ra J>ua 
gtltipta tttufa D&O Pflffio ptitu DttOtt9 fiitflE uttore&9 
f" rf go UgialcgiMpl; lcgmi9 itgitia Itgut jptito ip 
fUaLfto icg-cba Itgtbas ltgebat-*pi« Itgtbara? legeija 
tta itgtbat jjJ tits pfta itgt Itgiffi [tgit-nife itgtntf itgC 
da legttut at itgra i£)tita ptTq>pfca Itgrra (tgtraa (tgt 
ratiplt legating ugfaas itgttat futiio Itgatu Itgte (e 
gtt wltgauua itgraa itgent Impatiito raoiottpoe 
ptirati ah retuaha i ttrria pfonara Itij? Kgat itga# 

mus legitt Itgantjf utuca legita tu Itgita tilt *0 tega 
muslcgitote itguntoaf Itguntotttpptatiuaraoira t? 
paa pntt upteita ipfta at Itgtran [egrets Icgtttt ttplr 
at tajttcraua Itgetttia (tgtrettt fOrmta g*=- -"*=- 
at Itgtffctnltgiirta (tmCfct-asis-ut lec 



In this fac-simile the first nine lines are printed from 


106 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

very soft metal, the next nine lines from harder, and the 
last three from metal such as is in use to-day. 

Another important invention came into use about this 
time: this was gunpowder, which made it easier for men 
to kill one another. True, hundreds of thousands of people 
had already been slain by means of bows and arrows, 
spears, battle-axes, knives and such things, but what men 
yearned for was something that would make the murder¬ 
ing of their fellow-beings easier. Therefore, they hailed 
the infernal compound with delight. 

As to who was the real inventor of gunpowder less is 
known than about printing. No doubt it was used by the 
Chinese before the Christian era. It is described in an 
Arabic manuscript of the year 1249, and in the works of 
Roger Bacon (1214-1292), who is generally regarded as 
the true inventor, though some authorities ascribe it to the 
German monk, Berthold Schwartz, in 1320. Gunpowder 
is believed to have been first used at the battle of Agin- 
court (a-zlian-lcoor '), in 1415, but it did not come into 
general use until a considerable time afterward. At first 
reliance was placed more upon the terrifying reports, which 
threw the cavalry into confusion, than the execution of the 
missiles themselves. 

The successor of Sigismund was his son-in-law, Albert 
II. He was a virtuous, well-meaning prince, who doubt¬ 
less would have proven an excellent ruler, but he died in 
the second year of his reign, after his return from an ex¬ 
pedition against the Turks. He was succeeded by his 
cousin, Duke Frederick of Austria, whose reign lasted 
for fifty-four years. He was lazy, eccentric and the ab- 


House of Austria. 


107 



ject slave of tlie Papal power. He was wholly under the 
influence of his secretary, who ruled him in the sole in¬ 
terest of the Church of Pome. 

Frederick III. determined to reconquer the former Haps- 


The Battle of Basle, August 26, 1444. 

burg possessions from the Swiss, and he seemed to have 
good reason to hope for success, since there was a quarrel 
among some of the Cantons. Not having the troops he 
needed in Germany, he applied to Charles II., of France, 








108 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

who let him have 30,000, which force marched into Swit¬ 
zerland, and on the 26tli of August, 1444, met 1600 de¬ 
voted patriots near Basle, who ceased fighting at the end 
of ten hours, since not a man of them was left alive. 
The French themselves had suffered so severely that they 
abandoned the country in disgust. 

of Frederick was attended by great 
disorder throughout the empire, the 
particulars of which are not worth 
the space they would occupy. The 
frontiers were continually harried by 
old and new enemies, while there 
were as many bloody feuds as you will 
find to-day in the mountainous dis¬ 
tricts of our own Kentucky. Hun¬ 
gary, which had formed a part of the 
empire, was lost to it, and the Turk 
advanced into Austria. Frederick 
shouted in vain for help, and allowed 
Duke Charles the Bold, of Burgundy, 
to seize Lorraine without opposition, 
a new scheme of getting Burgundy 
back, he married his son Maximilian to Maria, only 
daughter of Charles the Bold. The prompt result was a 
war with France, which in the end kept that country 
herself. 

What little government Frederick had over Germany 
he passed to his son, several years before the official end 
of his reign. It was not unnatural that the emperor should 
grow weary of playing the monarch, which he had acted 


The long reign 



Portrait Medal of Fred¬ 
erick III. 

Then, thinking out 



Death of Charles the Bold while in Flight after the Battle of Nancy. 

From the huts on the verge of eternal snow to the junction of the Aar with the Rhine ” the Swiss thronged to battle 
with Charles the Bold. They defeated him at Granson, at Morat, and again at Nancy, where, the day after the 
battle, his dead body was found with his face frozen in a pool of water. 















110 


Young People’s History of Germany. 



with such ill-success. He made his home at Linz ( lentz ), 
and gave his whole time to religion and the study of 
alchemy. His biographers tell of his peculiar habit of 

closing a door behind 
him by thrusting back 
his right foot. One day 
he kicked too hard, and 
so injured his leg that 
his physicians had to 
amputate it. Since he 
was seventy-eight years 
old, this accident hast¬ 
ened his death, which 
took place in August, 
1493. 

Another curious in¬ 
cident must be told about 
this royal failure, who 
considered himself one 
of the greatest monarch! 
in Christendom. All 
his books were stamped 
with the vowels A, E, 
I, O, U, and nobody 
was able to find out 
what they meant until after his death. Then it was 
learned that the letters are the initials of Alles Erdreich 
1st Oesterreich Un ter than, meaning, “All earth is subject 
to Austria.” 

Now, since Maximilian had been elected king in 1486, 


The Emperor Maximilian T. 
From a wood-cut by Albrecht Diirer. 


1519 . 















House of Austria. 


Ill 


he began exercising imperial power without any further 
formalities because of his father’s death. He was very 
popular, and much was expected of him, for he was known 
to possess all the qualities of a great ruler (of which the 
jumbled empire stood 
in sore need), with 
the important excep¬ 
tions of prudence and 
the ability to think 
twice before he acted 
once. 

Personally he was 
one of the handsomest 
men in the empire— 
tall, finely formed, 
with manly features, 
bright blue eyes and 
blonde, silken hair, 
which fell in curls 
about his shoulders. 

He was immensely 

powerful and was one A Military Execution bv the Provost, Showing 
of the most skillful and Am '° r “ f Lan8<Jueuetvt ^ 

daring knights of his 

day. He was addicted to no bad habits, often marched on 
foot with his men, carrying his lance at the head of his 
troops, and, what was remarkable in a king, he knew how 
to forge his armor and temper his sword. He was well 
educated, with no avarice, but generous to a fault, and but 
for his habit of acting from impulse would have proven 
one of the best emperors Germany ever had. 











112 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

He was the first German emperor to assume the impe¬ 
rial title without being crowned in Pome, and all his suc¬ 
cessors followed his example. 

It was inevitable that Maximilian should be engaged 
in many wars, for that was the chief amusement of those 
in authority, and had he not resisted the enemies crowding 
his frontiers, Germany would have been overrun and 
wiped off the map. Italy was a continual thorn in the 
side of the empire, and the emperor did not succeed in 
maintaining his authority there. Then he had a good deal 
of fighting to attend to elsewhere, especially with France 
and the Swiss Confederates, who made such good progress 
in the art and science of war that they were not afraid of 
anybody or any nation. 

In 1495, at the Diet of Worms, Maximilian insisted 
upon being granted strict regulations for raising an army. 
His demands were only partly granted, but something 
substantial was attained in the way of an imperial consti¬ 
tution. 

You will recall that through his marriage Maximilian 
was possessed of the Netherlands, which belonged to the king¬ 
dom of Burgundy, and he pictured great things for his son 
Philip and his descendants. This son Philip had married 
the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of 
Castile, the two rulers of Spain who furnished Columbus 
with the means of discovering America. The history of 
Bohemia and Hungary will show how, in the course of 
the following hundred years, the House of Hapsburg was 
more firmly established than any one dared to hope. 

By a treaty concluded at Basle in 1499 the emperor 


House of Austria. 


113 


formally acknowledged the independence of Switzerland. 
Without attempting to follow the intricate thread of events, 
you must bear an important fact in mind: the first idea of 
a vast, all-embracing empire, which should include the 
whole West, had been 
proven impossible. 

Slowly but surely the 
idea became that of a 
compact German 
kingdom. The right 
of voting was origin¬ 
ally confined to the 
nobles and then the 
seven electors; but it 
was enlarged by the 
Golden Bull to what 
may be called a con¬ 
federacy, which ex¬ 
panded as the need 
arose. Then the towns 
next sought to gain 

greater rights for Siege of a Town Under Maximilian I. 

themselves. It was a From the “Triumphal Arch of Maximilian/” one 
hard fight, for there of the masterpieces of Albrecht Diirer. 

was much opposition and the progress was slow, but 
the general use ot printing proved a tremendous factor. 
Between the founding of the university and theBeformation, 
fifteen of the greatest German universities were estab¬ 
lished, and learning was more generally diffused through¬ 
out Germany than in any other country. 









114 Young People’s History of Germany. 

One good accomplished by the invention of gunpowder 
was the extinguishment of chivalry. There was a time 
when to be a knight meant all that the name implied, but 
chivalry had become corrupt, grotesque, shameless and 
detestable. A man on horseback, even if clothed in armor, 
could not do much with spear and battle-axe against a 
inan on foot with a well-aimed gun at his shoulder; so the 
knight had to come down off his horse and adopt the new 
style of fighting. 

Art and science flourished, and in the wealthy imperial 
towns splendid halls and famous cathedrals were built. 
That of Cologne, or Minster of St. Peter, a vast and im¬ 
posing Gothic edifice, was begun August 15, 1248, and 
precisely 600 years afterward (1848) the edifice was 
opened. The building of these fine structures encouraged 
the arts of painting on glass and of wood carving, which 
attained a perfection that has never been surpassed since 
that time. 

In the thirteenth century the famous league of cities, 
known as the Hansa or Hanseatic League, was formed, 
with the purpose of protecting their ships against pirates 
and for extending commerce. The first to form a union 
were Hamburg and Lubeck, but they were soon joined by 
Brunswick, Bremen, Cologne, Dantzic and a large number 
of other towns. These grew to be very powerful, and 
exercised an important influence on the civilization and 
commercial prosperity of Germany. The deputies met 
every three years at Lubeck, and the confederacy 
reached its highest influence and power in the four¬ 
teenth century. The last general assembly met in 1630. 


House of Austria. 


115 


The decline of the League was due to the discovery of 
India by the Portuguese and of America by the Span- 


The City of Cologne from the Rhine. 

The Minster of St. Peter in the distance. 

iards, because of which commerce shifted to the west of 
Europe. 

9— Ellis’ Germany. 











116 Young People’s History of Germany. 

Emperor Maximilian, feeling his end drawing near, 
took up liis abode in the little town of Weis, where he 
died in January, 1519, in the sixtieth year of his age. 


CHAPTER IX. 

house of Austria ( Continued ). 1438-1745. 

Luther and the Reformation. 

I T is a curious coincidence that we must now give an 
account of two of the greatest men in mediseval his¬ 
tory, for they lived at the same time, their lives ran 
parallel, their influence was vast and far-reaching, they 
were often in collision, and yet each in his way did a 
work of importance almost beyond estimate. They were 
Charles Y. and Martin Luther. 

First, as to Charles V., who was born at Ghent (French* 
gbn; English, ghent) in the year 1500. Fie was the son 
of Philip, Archduke of Austria, and his mother was the 
second daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile and 
Aragon. He passed his early years in Flanders, where 
he was educated. On the death of his grandfather, Maxi¬ 
milian, there was a keen contest for the German throne 
between Charles and Francis I. of France, but Charles 
was elected at Frankfurt in 1519, and crowned at Aix- 



House of* Austria ( Continued ). 11/ 

la-Chapelle the following year. With the remark that 
Charles was the greatest monarch, one of the ablest mili- 
tary com¬ 
manders and 
the wisest, yet 
the most big¬ 
oted, states¬ 
man of his 
time, we will 
reserve fur¬ 
ther account 
of him and his 
doings and 
turn to the 
history of that 
remarkable 
man, Martin 
Luther, for, as 
I have said, 
their histories 
run together. 

That era 
i n Germany 
a n d Europe 
known as the 
Refor m a t i o n 
had been ger¬ 
minating for 

years in the hearts of a large class of people. The bitter 
persecutions of the Albigenses of France (as told in our 



Martin Luther. 
















118 Young People s History of Germany. 

liistory of that country), the Waldenses in Savoy and the 
Wickliffites in England, the burning of John Huss and 
his friend Jerome, and the fearful ravages of the Hussite 
war had done a vast deal toward opening the eyes of 
Europe to the necessity of studying the Holy Word, which, 
because of the invention of printing, was becoming widely 
circulated. 

Martin Luther was born in the little Saxon town of 
Eisleben, of poor parents, on November 10, 1483. He 
showed such talent and apjDlication when a boy that his 
parents denied themselves that they might give him a good 
education. He was graduated from the University of 
Erfurt in 1505 with honor, and, his thoughts having been 
turned toward religion, he became a monk of the Augus¬ 
tine Order, and by zealous study of the gospels gained 
a repose of mind and a cheerfulness which stood by him 
in all his after trials and sufferings. 

His ability and scholarship led to his appointment as 
one of the professors in the new University of Witten¬ 
berg, founded by the elector, Frederick the Wise, and 
Luther was so successful that in 1510 he was sent by the 
order on a special mission to Pome. There he was horri¬ 
fied by the corruptions of the church and the immorality 
of the Pope and the cardinals. When he returned to 
Germany he was profoundly impressed with the necessity 
of rousing the clergy to their duty. Like the Puritans of 
England, his thought was that this work should be a 
reformation; that is, it should be wrought within the 
church, and he did not dream of placing himself outside 
the organization. 


House of Austria ( Continued ). 119 

Pope Leo X. was a great lover of art and of pleas¬ 
ure. Finding his income insufficient to meet his wants, 
he set out to increase it by issuing a series of indul¬ 
gences or absolutions, as they were called, for all manner 
of crimes, whose price was graduated according to the 
nature of the sin and the purse of him who wished to buy 



Selling Papal Indulgences. 

From a rare wood engraving by Hans Holbein : the coat-of-arms of the Medici 
family is everywhere visible. 

them. Albert, Archbishop of Mayence, bought for a 
large sum the right of selling these absolutions in Ger¬ 
many, and sent his agent, Tetzel, a Dominican monk, ped¬ 
dling them through the country. Tetzel found the busi¬ 
ness highly profitable, for when some scamp had set his 
mind to commit a certain crime he found himself able to 




























120 Young People’s History of Germany. 

buy absolution for the same before doing the wrong. This 
revolting course of action caused a great deal of indigna¬ 
tion among good people; but the only one who dared to 
raise his voice in open condemnation of the practice was 
Luther. 

On the 31st of October, 1517, he nailed on the door of 
the church at Wittenberg a series of ninety-five theologi¬ 
cal declarations, the truth of which he declared himself 
ready to prove in the face of any and all adversaries. 
These theses asserted that the pardon of sins came only 
from God, and must be bought by true repentance ; that 
the offering of the absolutions for sale was contrary to the 
true doctrines of the church, and could not have been 
sanctioned by the Pope. 

This action of Luther caused a great stir. The theses 
were printed and widely circulated throughout Germany, 
and were followed by replies in which the action of the 
Pope was defended. Luther was called a heretic, and was 
threatened with the fate of Huss. Luther loved a con¬ 
troversy, and defended himself vigorously by means of 
pamphlets, which were eagerly read. His followers in¬ 
creased so fast that the Pope, who had summoned him to 
Pome for trial, consented that he should jwesent himself 
before the Papal Legate at Augsburg, who demanded of 
Luther to retract what he had preached and written 
as being contrary to the Papal bulls. In answer, Luther 
declared that the command of the Pope could only be 
respected as the voice of God, when it was not in conflict 
with the Holy Scriptures. This was an exceedingly bold 
declaration, and so daring a defiance of Papal authority 





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122 Young People’s History of Germany. 



that it was sure to bring trouble. The Vicar-General of 
the Augustines was a friend of Luther, and, believing he 
was in personal danger in Augsburg, secretly let him out 
of a small door in the city’s 
wall, just as day was breaking, 
and supplied him with a horse. 
Through this prudent action 
Luther safely reached Witten¬ 
berg, where he was among de¬ 
voted followers. 

Frederick the Wise was now 
ordered to surrender Luther, 
and the Pope declared that the 
doctrines attacked by him were 
those of the church; and must 
be sustained as such. The 
elector wavered as to what he 
should do, but Philip Melanc- 
thon and other leading men 
connected with the university 
heartened him, and he finally 
refused to give up Luther. You 
will remember that the Em¬ 
peror Maximilian was still liv¬ 
ing, though close to his end, and 
he sent a letter to the Pope begging him to arrange the 
dispute. Leo X. appointed a Saxon nobleman named 
Carl von Militz as his Nuncio, who met Luther at Alten- 
burg, in 1519. The result of this interview was the re¬ 
port of the Nuncio that he would not undertake the 


Tomb of Frederick the Wise in the 
Cathedral at Wittenberg: Bronze 
Casting, 1527. 



















123 


House of Austria ( Continued ). 

removal of Luther with a force of 10,000 soldiers, and 
that there were ten friends to him where there was one for 
the Pope. The Nuncio was a conciliatory, persuasive 
man, and secured a promise from Luther to keep silence, 
provided his antagonists did the same. 

Such a truce, from its very nature, could not last. 
Luther’s friends were challenged to a discussion, and he 
was speedily drawn into it. He declared his views with 
more vigor than ever, and all Germany was in a ferment. 
The priests and reigning princes were mostly against him, 
while the middle class and-smaller nobles were on his side. 
The Pope issued a bull, ordering all of Luther’s writings 
to be burned, excommunicating those who should believe 
in them, and commanding Luther to appear before him at 
Pome. 

Luther’s next step was an audacious one, and closed 
forever the door of reconciliation. On the 10th of 
December, 1520, accompanied by the professors and stu¬ 
dents of the university, he kindled a fire outside of one 
of the gates of Wittenberg, and burned the Papal bull, 
the books of canonical law and the different writings in 
defence of the Pope. Such a daring act intensified the 
quarrel, made Luther many bitter enemies, and at the 
same time raised up numerous powerful friends. 

It was about this time that Charles V., of Spain, 
Naples, Sicily and the Spanish possessions in America, 
was elected to the throne of Germany. He also repre¬ 
sented in his own person Austria, Burgundy and the 
Netherlands. Throughout his long reign of thirty-six 
years he remained a Spaniard, and by his genius raised 


124 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

that monarchy to the foremost position among the nations 
of Europe. Charles was a strict Catholic, but he com¬ 
plied with Luther’s request not to be condemned unheard, 
and invited him to appear before him at Worms, where a 
new Diet had been called. Luther immediately accepted 
the invitation, though many of his friends warned him 
against placing himself in the power of the emperor. On 
April 17, 1521, he was conducted by the marshal of the 
empire to the City Hall, where the Diet was in session. 
There, in the presence of Charles, he acknowledged all his 
writings, and was called upon to retract them. In an ad¬ 
dress delivered both in Latin and German, so that all might 
understand, he made clear the grounds of his belief, and 
closed with the impressive words: 

“ Unless, therefore, I should be confuted by the testi¬ 
mony of the Holy Scriptures, and by clear and convincing 
reasons, I cannot and will not retract, because there is 
neither wisdom nor certainty in acting against conscience. 
Here I stand ; I cannot act otherwise : God help me. 
Amen.” 

Charles V. was indignant, but he gave a commendable 
example of good faith when urged by many to violate his 
promise of safe conduct to Luther, which still had 
twenty-one days to run. He replied: “I do not mean to 
blush like Sigismund.” He added, however, that at the 
expiration of the period of safe conduct Luther should 
be prosecuted as a heretic. Luther would have been very 
rash, therefore, had he remained in Worms. He had 
many influential friends, who would not permit him to stay, 
and who feared that, despite the good faith of the emperor, 


House of Austria ( Continued ). 


125 


Luther would be assassinated on liis road back to Witten¬ 
berg. 

He started 
homeward 


open 

with 


in an 
wagon 
one compan¬ 
ion. In the 
depths of the 
Thuringian 
forest, he did 
what seemed 
a strange 
thing: he 
sent his es¬ 
cort in ad¬ 
vance, so that 
he was en¬ 
tirely alone. 
S u d d e n ly 
four knights 
in armor and 
with closed 
visors, so that 
their faces 
could not be 
seen, issued 
from the 



Charles V., Emperor of Germany. 


wood, one of them leading an extra horse. Luther had 
no means of defending himself, and it would have been 





126 


Young People’s History of Germany. 




useless for him to attempt it had he been fully armed. He 
was placed upon the led horse and the five galloped away. 

Soon all Germany 
was thrown into tumult 
by the news that Luther 
had been murdered in 
the gloom of the Thur- 
ingian forest. The ex¬ 
citement increased as 
the months passed, and 
his writings were read 

Peasants at Work in Germany: About 1520. with lllOl’e ea^emCSS 

than ever. Charles Y. went to Spain immediately after 
the Diet of Worms, leaving Germany in charge of his 
younger brother, Ferdinand, while the work of suppress¬ 
ing Luther’s doctrines 
fell mainly to the Arch¬ 
bishops of Mayence and 
Cologne and the Papal 
Legate. 

Now, it looked very 
much as if Luther had 
been killed; but that 
capture of him by the 
four knights was a lit¬ 
tle plot of his devoted School-room of the Sixteenth Century. 
A-IoMrlc! T nfVior opnf The schoolmaster is characterized as unlearned 

me lias. turner sem by the clown > s cap which he wears 
Ins escort ahead to 

have him out of the way, for he expected the knights, 
each one of whom was ready to risk his life for him. H$ 










Unless, therefore, I should be confuted by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, and by clear and convincing reasons, 
I cannot and will not retract, because there is neither wisdom nor certainty in acting against conscience. Here I 
stand ; I cannot act otherwise : God help me. Amen.” 































128 Young People’s History of Germany. 

was taken to the Wartburg castle, on the crest of a moun¬ 
tain near Eisenbach, where he dressed himself as a knight, 
wore a helmet, breastplate and sword, allowed his beard 
to grow, and was known by the name of “Squire George.” 
You may see to-day all the furniture preserved in the room 
which he occupied, where he worked 
hard upon a translation of the New 
Testament into German. 

Luther was thus engaged when 
he learned of the rise of a fanat¬ 
ical sect in Wittenberg called the 
Anabaptists, in which many of his 
old friends were taking part. The 
reformer was greatly disturbed, for 
he saw only danger in this new 
movement, and, despite the remon¬ 
strance of his friends, he mounted 
a horse and rode alone into Wit¬ 
tenberg. His appearance was so 
unexpected and his looks were so 
changed that many at first refused 
to believe he was Lntlier. Even 
his old friend Melancthon for a time 
did not recognize him; but all doubt soon vanished, and 
he preached with such eloquence and power that the pesti¬ 
lent sect was expelled from the city. The New Testament 
having been published in German, Luther and Melancthon 
set about arranging a new and simpler form of service. 

The Reformation grew mightily in strength. By the 
close of 1523 it had been embraced by Saxony, Hesse, 



Lady of the Nobility on Horse¬ 
back, Accompanied by a 
Halberdier. 

Costume picture by Albrecht 
Dvirer. 






House of Austria (Continued), 129 

Brunswick, the cities of Frankfort, Strasburg, Nurem- 
burg, Magdeburg, the Augustine Order of monks, some 
of the Franciscans and a considerable number of priests; 
but a grave trouble arose from the Anabaptists, whose 
preaching caused a revolt in the summer of 1524 among 
the peasants of Wurtemburg and Baden. Most of their 
demands were reasonable, and they took it for granted 
that Luther would support them, but, with his horror of 
civil war, and his de¬ 
sire to keep the Refor¬ 
mation free of any 
political movement, he 
published a pamphlet 
condemning the up¬ 
rising, but used what 
influence he could on 
behalf of the oppressed 
ones. 

The peasants’ war, 
however, broke out in 
1525, and raged with frightful ferocity until the close o* 
the year, when it was repressed. It interfered much with 
the progress of the Reformation, but Luther’s opposition 
to the revolt retained the friendship of the princes who 
had been well disposed toward him. 

Pope Leo X. died in 1521, and was succeeded by 
Adrian VI., the last German to wear the Papal crown. 
He showed a wish to reform many of the corruptions of 
the church, but he lived only two years, and his successor, 
Clement VII., persuaded Ferdinand of Austria, the dukes 



Scene from the Peasant’s Rebellion. 
The Murder of a Knight. 






130 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

of Bavaria and a number of bishops to form a league for 
the suppressing of Luther’s doctrines. A counter league 
was formed at Torgau in 1526, and the party of the Refor¬ 
mation was so strong at the Diet held in Speyer the 
same year that no decree could be passed against it. The 
organization of the Christian church by this time was 
adopted in Saxony, and soon included all North Germany. 

During these stirring times Charles Y. was absent from 
Germany. Fighting against France, he ended the first 
war by his victory at Pavia in 1525, when he made 
Francis I. a prisoner. The latter bought his freedom by 
giving up his claims to Italy, Burgundy and Flanders, 
but, on his return to France, started another war, this 
time in conjunction with Pope Clement VII., who was 
jealous of the emperor’s growing power in Italy. The 
German army marched upon Rome, which was captured 
and plundered in 1527, though Charles claimed that he 
did not authorize the action. 

In 1525 Luther married Catharine von Bora, a nun 
who had escaped from a convent, and his enemies accused 
him of immorality and impiety, but he stoutly defended 
his action on Scriptural grounds, and spent twenty-one 
years of domestic happiness. In 1529 the emperor con¬ 
vened a Diet at Spires to procure aid from the German 
princes in a war against the Turks and to devise means 
for allaying religious disputes. This assembly ordered 
that mass should be universally observed throughout the 
empire. The electors of Saxony and Brandenburg and 
other princes entered their protest, because of which the 
reformed party acquired the name of Protestants. The 


House of Austria ( Continued ). 


131 



same princes formed a league for their mutual defence 
against the emperor. In 1530 Melancthon drew up the 
Confession of Augsburg , which was received as the stand¬ 
ard of the Protestant faith in Germany. Five years later 
Luther’s translation 
of the Bible into 
German was pub¬ 
lished. 

T h e publication 
of the German Bible 
was not the end of 
Luther’s labors, al¬ 
though he was steadily 
failing under the en¬ 
ormous strain and 
pressure to which he 
had long been sub¬ 
jected. Everyone ac¬ 
knowledged his lead¬ 
ership in the great 
work of the Reform a- 


Seal of Charles V. 


tion, and he was consulted by all classes. So long as he 
lived lie did his utmost to preserve peace among the Pro¬ 
testant princes and between the Protestants and Catho¬ 
lics. He died February 17, 1546,- and five days later 
the remains were buried at Wittenberg, with all the 
honors which the people and the university could give 
to them. 


10 — Ellis' Germany. 




CHAPTER X. 


house of Austria ( Continued ). 1438-1745. 



T HE infamous Duke of Alva, one of the most cruel 
wretches in history, urged Charles Y. to burn the 
body of Luther and scatter the ashes as those of 
a heretic, to which the emperor made the manly answer: 

“I wage no war against 
the dead.” 

Nevertheless, Charles 
did all he could to check 
the spread of Protestant¬ 
ism. By his orders Mau¬ 
rice of Saxony laid siege 
to Magdeburg and forced 
its surrender; but he was 
so disgusted with the op¬ 
pressive measures of the 
emperor that he deserted, 
joined the Protestant 
cause and formed an 
al 1 iance with France. 
Charles received notice 
of his disaffection just in 
time to escape capture. Although suffering from gout, he 
fled across the Alps in the darkness of night amid a 
violent storm, many of his courtiers following as best they 


German Patricians, about 1550. 


( 132 ) 





133 


House of Austria ( Continued ). 

Could on foot. Maurice arrived in Innspruck a few hours 
after the flight of the emperor, relieved to find him gone, 
for, as he declared, he had no convenient cage in which 
to confine the falcon. The Council of Trent broke up in 
consternation, its mem¬ 
bers fleeing in all direc¬ 
tions. 

In 1553 a Diet was 
held at which the Ger¬ 
man princes agreed to 
the Treaty of Passau, 
made the year before be¬ 
tween Charles and Mau¬ 
rice, which permitted re¬ 
ligious freedom to the 
Protestants. In 1555 
the Diet of Augsburg, 
sanctioned by Charles, 
confirmed these stipula¬ 
tions, and thus peace 
was secured to Germany. 

Failing in health and 
wearied of the continual 
strife, Charles Y. abdicated the throne in 1556 in favor of 
his brother and successor, Ferdinand I., and, retiring to 
the Convent of St. Just in Estramadura, Spain, died in 
1558. 

Ferdinand strictly observed all the treaties that had 
been made, and by working faithfully with the imperial 
States maintained peace for Germany. Although a rigid 



Emperor Ferdinand I. 





134 


Young People’s History of Germany. 



Catholic, lie was tolerant of the Protestant religion, and 
what fighting he had to do he did against the Turks in 
Hungary. His son, Maximilian II., who came to the 

throne in 1564 and reigned 
until 1576, was equally tol¬ 
erant. Indeed, a good many 
Protestants hoped he would 
embrace their faith, but he 
did not think it best to do so, 
one reason for which was the 
savage strife between the 
Lutherans and Calvinists 
themselves, who were more 
bitter toward each other than 
were the Protestants and 
Catholics. Calvin was the 
founder of the faith named for 
him in Switzerland, which 
spread among the Huguenots 
in France, in the Netherlands 
and in Scotland. The em¬ 
peror did all he could to 
soothe the quarrels between 
the different sects, and suc- 

Emperor Maximilian II. in Imperial ceeded SO Well that it Was 
Kobes. i -i p , i 

a sad day tor the empire 
when he dropped dead and was succeeded by his son 
Rudolph II. He and his brother Matthias had been 
raised at the bigoted court of King Philip of Spain, 
where the hideous Inquisition held sway. He was gloomy, 










A Sitting of the Holy Inquisition. 






































































































































































































































136 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

unsocial, superstitious, and subject to fits of uncontrollable 
passion. His chief interest lay in the affairs of Austria, 
liis direct inheritance, rather than with those of Germany. 

Rudolph took from the Austrian Protestants the right 
of worship which his father had permitted, and every¬ 
thing he did was with a view 
of oppressing and persecut¬ 
ing that sect. But Rudolph 
was so weak and unfitted to 
reign that the jmnces of the 
Austrian house, in 1612, set 
him aside and placed his 
brother Matthias on the 
throne. Rudolph died in the 
same year. 

Matthias reigned from 
1612 to 1619. lie was old 
and weak, but did not show 
any of the fanaticism of his 
brother. Having no heirs, he 
was obliged to choose the 
Archduke Ferdinand as his 
Emperor Kudoiph ii. successor. This emperor is 

known in history as Ferdi¬ 
nand II. He was an unrelenting foe to the Protest¬ 
ants, as he had proven by stamping out their faith in 
St-yria. The Protestants of Bohemia naturally were 
alarmed, for they could see no good in store from such 
a choice. One of their churches having been pulled 
down by order of the archbishop, a deputation met at 




The Imperial Councilors Thrown Out of a Window in the Palace at Prague. 

Two of the Imperial councilors having become obnoxious to the Protestant nobles assembled at Prague, were by 
them thrown out of the window, “ according to the ancient Bohemian custom.” They fell upon a heap of refuse 
and were little hurt, although the foil is said to have been eighty feet. 







138 Young People’s History of Germany, 

Prague and begged that their grievances might be heard. 
This was refused, and an appeal to the emperor was bru¬ 
tally treated. Another Protestant assembly met in May, 
1618, at the Royal Palace in Prague, to call the govern¬ 
ors to account. Two of the imperial councilors made 
themselves so obnoxious during the discussion that they 
were flung out of the window. 

Behold what a great fire a small matter kindletli! 
These little affairs gave life to the general discontent 
in Bohemia, and really started 
the Thirty Years’ War, the 
most shameless and terrible 
in which Germany has ever 
been involved throughout its 
whole history. Feeling that 
all justice w T as denied them, 
the Bohemian States organ¬ 
ized a provisional govern¬ 
ment, with Matthias of Tliurn 
as its head. 

They declared that if the 
promises made to them were 
not fulfilled they would break with the House of Haps- 
burg. The old emperor being ill, left all business with 
the Archduke, who asked for the alliance of Spain 
and other Catholic countries, while Bohemia attempted to 
gain to her side Austria, Moravia and Silesia, whose forces 
were led by the Counts of Thurn, and Ernest of Mans- 
feld. 

War began in August, 1618, when the imperial army 



Emperor Matthias. 



139 


House of Austria ( Continued ). 

entered Bohemia and was defeated. Matthias dying in the 
following March, Ferdinand II., as already stated, was 
elected emperor. The Bohemian States chose Frederick 
Y. Elector of the Palatinate and son-in-law of James I. of 
England ; but he was unequal to the situation, and, being 
defeated in a great battle near 
Prague, in 1620, was obliged 
to flee to Holland, and was 
outlawed. The general who 
conquered him was Tilly, a 
character of unique interest. 

He had shown himself a great 
general while in the Bava¬ 
rian service, but he was with¬ 
out a spark of pity in his 
breast. He is pictured by the 
writer, Bayard Taylor, as a 
small, lean man, with a face 
almost comical in its ugliness. 

His nose was like a parrot’s 
beak, his forehead seamed 
with deep wrinkles, his eyes 
sunk in their sockets, and his cheek-bones projecting. He 
usually wore a dress of* green satin, with a cocked hat and 
long red feather, and rode a small, mean-looking gray 
horse. 

No pen can describe the misery and violence that fol¬ 
lowed. The Bohemian leaders were imprisoned and exe¬ 
cuted, their property confiscated, all Bohemia, Silesia and 
Moravia overrun, the churches closed or given over to the 






140 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


Catholics, and the University of Prague presented to the 
Jesuits, so that it is said that in 1627 fully 36,000 fami¬ 
lies, rather than surrender their faith, left Salzburg and be¬ 
came wanderers. 

The war, however, did not end, a new expedition be¬ 
ginning on the Phine in defence of the outlawed elector, 
Frederick. Tilly was defeated in 1622, but the victorious 
allies imprudently parted company too soon, and Tilly 


after hearing mass, fell 
upon them at Wimpfen 
and Hoclist and routed 
both armies. Subdu¬ 
ing the whole of the 
Palatinate, the extirpa¬ 
tion of the Protestants 
was carried on with as 
much merciless ferocity 
as elsewhere. 



mg 


Pillaging and Destruction of a Village During 
the “ Thirty Years’ War.” 


The scene of the war 
shifted to the North, 


whither Tilly hastened with his army, and, driving Prince 
Christian and his troops into Holland, he occupied all 
Lower Saxony and Westphalia. England, Holland and 
Denmark formed a league in 1625 to drive Tilly out of 
Lower Saxony and to check the progress of the Imperial 
progress northward. In his extremity, the emperor ac¬ 
cepted the offer of the enormously wealthy Albert, of 
Waldstein, better known as Wallenstein, who had won a 
high reputation as a military leader, and whose conscience 
never troubled him. He was very superstitious, fond of 



% 



Tilly in tlie Church Before the Battle of Wimpfen. 

Tilly was one of the generals who committed frightful devastations during the Thirty-Years’ War, pursuing the Protest¬ 
ants with merciless ferocity in the service of the houses of Austria and Bavaria. After winning thirty-six 
battles Tilly lost the field oi' Breitenfeld to Gustavus Adolphus. 



























142 Young People’s History of Germany. 

astrology, and believed that a great destiny awaited him. 
He was tall and gaunt, was never seen to smile, his eyes 
were small and fiery and his complexion yellow. His 

offer to raise an army of 
50,000 men for Ferdi¬ 
nand II. was joyfully 
accepted. 

Wallenstein marched 
into Lower Saxony in the 
autumn of 1625, won a 
victory at Dessau, and 
followed the defeated 
forces i n to H u n g ary, 
where they went to pieces. 
Meanwhile, the King of 
Denmark had been de¬ 
feated by Tilly, who, 
uniting with Wallenstein, 
marched into Holstein. 
Denmark was laid waste, 
and Wallenstein occupy¬ 
ing Pomerania, became 
ruler of the Baltic, all 
the towns of Pomerania (excepting Stralsund having 
opened their gates to the Imperial troops. 

The Imperial cause had now achieved such triumphs 
in every quarter that, in 1629, the emperor issued his 
Edict of Restitution , by which all confiscated church prop¬ 
erty was restored to the Catholics, all sees and bishoprics 
filled by their clergy, Calvinism rigorously excluded and 



143 


House of Austria ( Continued ). 

Protestantism greatly checked. Wallenstein’s soldiers 
were so intolerable in tlieir treatment of Catholics, as well 
as Protestants, that the princes secured his recall by the 
emperor, who made Tilly commander-in-chief of the Im¬ 
perial armies. 

When utter ruin threatened the German Protestants, 
who could furnish no capable leader, hope appeared in the 
person of the illustrious Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden, 
who, on the 4th of July, 1630, landed on the coast of 
Pomerania with an army of 15,000 men. He had suc¬ 
ceeded to the throne of Sweden in 1611, at the age of seven¬ 
teen, and had proven himself a magnificent military leader 
by driving the Kussians from the Baltic and by fighting 
for several years against King Sigismund of Poland. He 
was an earnest Protestant, burning with zeal to defend the 
almost hopeless cause in Germany. 

Although the Protestant princes were humbled to the 
dust, they refused to unite under him. Nothing could 
have been meaner or more cowardly, for while Gustavus 
Adolphus had come into Germany to aid the downtrodden 
people, he found that the whole work was left to him. 
But with dauntless faith he began the almost impossible 
task. By the end of the year he relieved Pomerania of 
the Imperial troops and stormed and captured Frankfurt- 
on-the-Oder. At that time Magdeburg, the only German 
city which had resisted the Edict of Restitution , was be¬ 
sieged by Tilly and Pappenheim. In order to relieve 
the siege, Gustavus asked permission of the Elector of 
Saxony to pass through his territory, and, incredible as it 
may seem, such permission was refused. 


144 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

Magdeburg was defended for more than a month by a 
garrison of about 2,000 soldiers and 5,000 armed citizens 
against an army of 30,000 trained soldiers. Then, in May, 
1631, it was stormed and given over to tlie merciless sav¬ 
agery of the troops. The city went down in blood and 
flame; 30,000 of the people were put to the sword, and 
Tilly, writing to his emperor, said he 
was “sincerely sorry” that the ladies 
of the Imperial family could not have 
been present as spectators. 

At last the elector joined forces 
with Gustavus, and in the battle of 
Breitenfeld, near Leipzig, Tilly was 
routed and a new government was 
established in South Germany. By 
the following year Tilly had raised a 
new army and taken Bamberg, but 
fell back upon the approach of the 
Swedish king, who, however, followed 
Gustavus Adolphus. him up, and* in 1632, compelled him 
to fight. Not only were the Imperial 
troops defeated, but Tilly was mortally wounded, and the 
emperor was left without an experienced commander. 
Gustavus Adolphus occupied Augsburg and marched 
to Munich (: nm'nik ), hailed everywhere as the deliverer 
of the country. 

Wallenstein was now recalled to tlie command, and drove 
the Saxons out of Bohemia. He then turned to Nurem¬ 
berg, where Gustavus Adolphus had intrenched his army 
before the town. The two armies lay in sight of each 





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146 Young People’s History of Germany. 

other for more than two months, when Gustavus broke 
camp and moved south. Wallenstein followed into Sax¬ 
ony, where he took Leipzig, and united his forces with the 
Bavarian general, Pappenheim. Fearing that the elector, 
who had not always stood firm, might be forced to join 
the emperor, Gustavus brought Wallenstein to battle in 
November, 1632. 

The king went into the fight at the head of his regi¬ 
ment, and fell mortally wounded almost at the first fire. 
His followers attacked the enemy with so much fury that 
Wallenstein was forced back and defeated. lie retired to 
Bohemia, and for a long time paid no heed to the pressing 
calls of the emperor that he should take the field. In 
truth, he was plotting to betray the Imperial cause, and, 
the facts being made known to the emperor, he issued a 
secret order to seize Wallenstein and three of his guilty 
companions, dead or alive. 

In the latter part of February, 1634, Wallenstein 
reached the town of Egei*, near the Bohemian frontier. 
He was on his way to carry out his treasonable designs, 
when an Irish officer and two Scotch ones, no doubt in 
obedience to instructions from Vienna, consjfired to murder 
him. It is said that Wallenstein had been w r arned of his 
impending fate by the astrologer Seni. Three friends of 
Wallenstein went to a banquet in the evening at the cita¬ 
del, but he was ill and remained in his quarters in the 
burgomaster’s house. At a signal, the lights were put out, 
dragoons entered the banquet hall and killed the three 
comrades of Wallenstein. Then they went to the burgo¬ 
master’s house, under the pretence of bearing important 



Death of King Gustavus Adolphus at Liitzen. 
11— Ellis' Germany. 


























148 Young People’s History of Germany. 

despatches, cut down Wallenstein’s servant and entered 
the room where he lay. Seeing that the end had come, 
Wallenstein received the death-blow in silence and without 
resistance. 

Ferdinand, the emperor’s son, now became com- 
mander-in-chief, and, with the aid of General Gallas, 
routed the Protestant forces at Nordlingen. Suabia and 
Franconia were overrun, Saxony fell away from the Swe¬ 
dish alliance, and Sweden made a new 
treaty with France, by which it was 
to receive subsidies and an army, 
while France was to be given Al¬ 
sace. 

In these intrigues the masterly 
brain of Cardinal Richelieu (re'slie- 
loo , or reesh'le-uh) was at work, as 
it had been in the displacement of 
Wallenstein. Richelieu was on the 
side of the Protestants, and brought 
about the alliance of France, Sweden and 
Holland and the Protestant States of Germany against his 
implacable foe, the House of Austria. It was due to the 
diplomacy of Richelieu and the energetic military move¬ 
ments that from this time forward the Imperial cause 
gradually declined. 

Ferdinand II. died in 1637 and was succeeded by his 
son, Ferdinand III. The dreadful war went on for six years 
after the death of Richelieu, in 1642. Finally peace was 
signed at Munster in 1648, and the disgraceful Thirty 
Years’ War came to an end. This treaty established the 




House of Austria ( Continued ). 149 

religious independence of the Protestant States, made Hol¬ 
land and Switzerland free and robbed the German empire 
of most of its ancient splendor and power. 


CHAPTER XI. 

house of Austria ( Continued ). 1438-1745. 

N EVER was there a more woful example of the 
desolation and horror of war than that of Germany 
at the end of the struggle which had raged for 
thirty years. It may be truthfully said that everything 
was destroyed—commerce, arts, culture and the prosperity 
brought by the Reformation. Back and forth the armies 
had wrestled, sacking, burning, pillaging and killing. 
Hundreds of once flourishing villages and towns were 
smoking ashes. No green thing was left growing, and for 
years the trampled fields lay untilled, after having been 
fertilized by the blood and bones of murdered men, because 
there was no seed to sow. Over this awful desolation you 
could walk for ten, fifteen or twenty miles without meet¬ 
ing horse, cow or living person. The wolves fattened on 
the ghastly corpses, and boldly invaded the hovels where 
the miserable widows and orphans huddled together. 
Pestilence and famine trod on the heels of the armed forces, 
and the victors were as lawless and wild as the conquered. 



150 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

Almost every man who survived became a robber, who did 
not hesitate to kill for the sake of plunder. The blight 
of God seemed to rest on the land. 

But the people began to rally, and by and by timidly 
ventured to take up the duties of life. Prosperity and 
happiness would come again in due time if men would 
cease killing one another in the name of Him whose chief 
doctrine was the golden rule of love and charity. 

The German empire was in fragments, the disconnected 
States tottering along, each in its own way, without thought 
or care for the others. All hope of nationality was gone 
for the time, and the skies were like a pall. France had 
grown to be the most powerful nation in Europe, and her 
greedy eyes turned longingly upon the prostrate people, 
where she saw a chance of stealing territory. She coveted 
possession of the whole left bank of the Bliine from Basle 
to its estuaries. You will remember that Louis XIY. was 
King of France, and he had not the first glimmer of a 
conscience. He welcomed the calamity of any other 
country, because it promised to bring gain to his own. 

Ferdinand III. died in 1657, and the following year 
the electors chose Leopold I., who ruled until 1705. He 
was compelled to promise never to help any enemy of 
France or the Spaniards in Belgium. Louis XIY. was so 
powerful that there were only two princes in Europe with 
enough courage to oppose him. One of these was William 
of Orange, who, on the death of James II., became King 
of England, and the other was the great elector, Frederick 
William of Brandenburg, who clearly read the intentions 
of the base monarch of France. 



Frederick William of Brandenburg, The Great Elector 



























































































152 Young Peoples History of Germany. 

I have just told you that Germany was broken up into 
a large number of petty States, all independent of one 
another. One of these was the Electorate of Branden¬ 
burg, which lay alongside of another small territory 
known as the Duchy of Prussia, which was added to Bran¬ 
denburg. Affairs were managed so well that the enlarged 
electorate greatly prospered. Toward the close of the 
seventeenth century, the elector, Frederick III., made a 
bargain with the emperor in the War of the Spanish Suc¬ 
cession, as it was called, that he would give him help, pro¬ 
vided he should be made King of Prussia. Now, remem¬ 
ber, therefore, that in 1701 Frederick III., the last 
elector of Brandenburg, became Frederick I., the first 
King of Prussia. 

Frederick William, second King of Prussia, came to 
the throne in 1713, and reigned until 1740. He was half¬ 
savage, grim, stern and an absolute tyrant, but his whole 
heart was set on making Prussia a leading power among 
nations. He set to work drilling and disciplining troops 
until he had moulded them into a magnificent army. His 
son, afterward known as Frederick the Great, came to the 
throne in 1740 and ruled until 1786. 

I make these few statements in advance, because it is 
necessary you should bear them in mind in order to under¬ 
stand events in Germany which I must now relate. The 
momentous part played by Prussia will be told later on. 

Going back to 1672, Louis XIY. of France entered 
Holland and occupied the German Duchy of Lorraine 
without the least regard to the rights of the German empire. 
The elector formed an alliance with Holland and marched 


153 


House of Austria ( Continued ). 

to the Rhine, where an Austrian army was to meet him; 
but Austria had been forbidden to carry out her agreement 
by France, and remained neutral. This compelled Fred¬ 
erick William to enter into the Vossem Treaty of Neu¬ 
trality with France, receiving back his Cleve possessions, 
which France had occupied. 

Since France was devastating the Rhenish borders, the 
emperor joined Holland and Spain, and the empire declared 
war against France. Louis seized the eleven imperial 
towns over which he had simple jurisdiction, and ordered 
his general, Turenne {tureen), to lay waste the Palatinate. 
The elector advanced into Alsace, but he as well as his 
Dutch allies operating singly were defeated. In order to 
draw off his enemy from the Rhine, Louis induced Sweden 
to invade Brandenburg. The elector marched into South 
Germany, secured reinforcements, and, rapidly marching 
north, attacked the Swedish army at Fehrbellin, in June, 
1675, and, although his force was much the smaller, he 
won a brilliant and decisive victory. The Swedes retreated, 
and the elector entered into an alliance with Denmark and 
Brunswick to drive the Swedes out of Germany. The 
elector was so successful that at the end of three years he 
had fully recovered Pomerania, 

When matters were in this promising shape for Ger¬ 
many, Holland suddenly made peace with France, by the 
terms of which the emperor ceded Freiburg (fri-) to the 
French, and consented that East Pomerania should be 
restored to Sweden. The outraged elector refused to agree 
to this, whereupon the French immediately occupied and 
laid waste his territory and threatened Magdeburg. De- 


154 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

serted by his allies, the elector was forced to consent to 
the humiliating terms. 

Louis XIV. had been so successful that he determined 
to go further. He occupied 600 towns and villages of the 
German empire, which he claimed had originally belonged 
to France. Then he obtained possession by treachery of 
Strasburg, reduced it to a provincial French city, and it 
was lost to Germany for two hundred years. Feeling that 
no hope remained, the elector of Brandenburg consented 
to a twenty years’ truce in 1684, in which the territories, 
including Strasburg and Luxemburg, were given up to 
France. The elector died in 1688. 

Giving rein to his towering ambition, the French king 
incited the Turks to advance upon Austria from the east. 
The emperor was virtually helpless, and 200,000 Turks 
besieged ATenna. It surely would have fallen had not 
John Sobieski, King of Poland, at the end of two months, 
attacked and repulsed the Turks. The imperialist army 
followed up its advantage, and in the course of a few years 
gained a number of victories over the Turks. 

In these battles Prince Eugene of Savoy, “Her edle 
Bitter,” greatly distinguished «himself. He was a born 
soldier, and, being refused the command of a regiment in 
the French army, he volunteered in the service of the 
emperor against the Turks. His bravery and skill were 
so conspicuous that he was given the command of a regi¬ 
ment of dragoons, and was afterward placed at the head of 
the army of Hungary. Louis XIY. was so pleased with 
his abilities that he offered him a marshal’s staff, a pension 
and the government of Champagne, which offer was scorn- 



155 


The Great Elector Defeats the Swedes in the Battle of Fehrbellin. 




























156 


Young People s History of Grermany. 

fully refused. We shall soon hear more of Prince Eugene. 
It had become so plain that the King of France meant 
to make all the European States tributary to his crown 
that William of Orange urged an alliance against him. 
Such an alliance was formed in 1686, and included Hol¬ 
land, Brandenburg, Sweden, Spain, the emperor and some 
of the princes of the empire, the alliance being known as 
the Augsburg League. William becoming King of Eng¬ 
land two years later, that country also joined the alliance. 

Louis sent two armies into the Palatinate, with orders 
to burn and destroy without mercy. The brutal command 
was carried out by Melac with a savagery that has never 
been surpassed. The vines were pulled up by the roots 
and destroyed; the fruit-trees were cut down, the villages 
burned, and, in addition to the multitudes killed, 400,000 
people were made beggars. The castle of Heidelberg, one 
of the finest monuments in Europe of the Middle Ages, was 
blown up with gunpowder; the people of Manheim were 
compelled to pulldown their own fortifications, after which 
the city was burned; Speyer, with its splendid cathedral, 
was leveled to the ground, and the coffins of the buried 
emperors were dug up and plundered. To complete the 
horrible scene, it should be added that while this frightful 
devastation was going on most of the German princes were 
aping the fashions of the corrupt French court and trying 
to unlearn their own language, as if they were ashamed of 
it! Finally the treaty of Ryswick (riz'wik) was made in 
1697, and by its terms Germany was compelled to leave 
Alsace and Strasburg in the hands of the French. 

In the last year of the century Charles II. of Spain 


157 


House of Austria ( Continued ). 

died without heirs, and, of course, there had to be another 
war, or rather series of them, which are known as the 
Wars of the Spanish Succession , and which lasted for thir¬ 
teen years. The emperor demanded the throne for his 
second son Charles, and Louis XIY. made a similar 
demand for his grandson, Philip of Anjou, the territory 
in dispute being Spain, Belgium, Milan, Naples, Sicily 
and the Spanish colonies in America. 

Louis XIV. not only claimed the throne for his grand¬ 
son, but proceeded to take possession of it. The emperor 
was equally pugnacious, and was joined by England and 
Holland, who thought it high time that a curb was put on 
the French king’s ambition. Most of the German princes, 
with Brandenburg at the head, followed the example thus 
set. The elector of Bavaria and the Archbishop of 
Cologne sided with the French, while Portugal joined the 
Austrian alliance. So it came about that one-half of 
Europe was arrayed against the other half on account of 
the dispute over the Spanish succession. 

The allies had an overwhelming advantage, because 
their armies were led by the Duke of Marlborough, who 
never lost a battle, and by the brilliant Prince Eugene, of 
Savoy. The war lasted from 1701 to 1714, and was car¬ 
ried on in Spain, Italy, Belgium and Germany. Naturally, 
most of the Spanish provinces fought for Philip, and only 
a few for the Archduke Charles, who went personally to 
Spain, where a bloody civil war followed. 

In Italy, Prince Eugene crossed the Alps and defeated 
the French army; Ludwig of Baden, with the Imperial 
army, occupied the Upper Rhine, while the Duke of Marl- 


158 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

borough, commanding the English, Dutch and German 
allies, entered the Netherlands, sent the Archbishop of 
Cologne scurrying before him and seized the electorate. 

Prince Eugene saw that the issue of the war depended 
upon the subjection of Bavaria, and he asked the Duke of 
Marlborough to help him to destroy the French-Bavarian 
army at one blow. The two commanders joined forces, 
and at Blenheim, in 1704, they effected this work with 
absolute success. What was left of the enemy retreated with 
the elector across the Rhine, Bavaria was lost and France 
received the greatest defeat it had suffered in two centuries. 

The Imperial army occupied Bavaria, and the emperor, 
dying in 1705, was succeeded by his son, Joseph I., who 
reigned until 1711. He was a good ruler, tolerant in 
religious matters and energetic. Meanwhile Marlborough 

o o o 

had advanced from Bavaria into the Netherlands, where 
he manoeuvred so as to induce the French to attack him 
at Rami Hies, being almost the exact spot upon which the 
famous battle of AFaterloo was fought more than a hun¬ 
dred years later. Events went exactly as Marlborough 
had planned. His position was strongly defended by a 
morass and some ditches filled with water, so that the enemy 
could not attack the weaker and more exposed points, 
while he could hurl his whole force upon any part of their 
line. Through his superior generalship, Marlborough 
won a complete victory, the French losing more than 
20,000 men and eighty standards, including the drums 
and colors of the Royal Guard itself. The principal towns 
of Flanders and Brabant submitted, and the Archduke 
Charles was proclaimed as Charles III. 


Jlllll 



Tl ie Emperor Joseph I. 

Showing the Spanish Court Dress and Fashion of the Times. 




















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































160 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


Marching into Italy, Prince Eugene attacked the Duke 
of Orleans, who was besieging Turin with an army of 
80,000 men, and utterly overthrew him, compelling Milan 
to submit and driving the French out of the country. 
Then Eugene sent a force against Naples, Sardinia and 
Sicily, the last being easily captured with the help of the 
British fleet. The Pope, who hitherto had sided with 
France, now acknowledged Charles of Hapsburg as King 
of Spain. 

By this time Louis NIV. concluded that there was not 
much chance for his grandson, and it would be a good idea 
to propose peace to the allies; but the latter replied that 
his terms were not satisfactory, and they kept up the war, 
Prince Eugene unitins: forces with the Duke of Marl- 
borough in the Netherlands. Together they gained the 
victory of Oudenarde in 1708, by which Brabant and 
Flanders were secured. Then the French king notified 
his enemies that he would rest satisfied with Naples and 
Sicily, but the allies again refused. The entire Spanish 
monarchy for Charles III., the restoration of Alsace 
and Strasburg and the expulsion of the king’s grandson, 
were the three demands of the allies. Louis was wil¬ 
ling to grant the first two, but he drew the line at driv¬ 
ing his descendant out of Spain, managed to raise another 
army, and the war went merrily on, with the French 
routed at Malplacjuet (mal-plaJi'ka) in 1709 bv the 
duke and the prince. Then Louis agreed to give back 
all the territory, only retaining Sicily for his grandson. 
Prince Eugene urged that this offer be accepted, but Aus¬ 
tria refused her consent. 


warn 



161 


Marlborough’s Charge at Ramillies: “ Wheel into line!” 

The victory at Ramillies was won by the skilful manoeuvres of Marlborough and by his personal bravery 
on the held. The French line was sent reeling back by repeated cavalry charges, in one of which 
Marlborough, himself, narrowly escaped capture. 





162 Young People’s History of Germany. 

At this critical juncture the Duchess of Marlborough 
and Queen Anne of England quarreled, and the duke 
was recalled, while in Germany the emperor suddenly died, 
without heirs. His brother, Charles VI., succeeded to 
the throne, and reigned from 1711 to 1740. The allies 
did not care to promote the supremacy of the Hapsburg 
line, and signed the Peace of Utrecht {yoo'treckt) with 
England and France. The emperor continued the war 
some time longer, but accepted the conditions of peace in 
1714. 

By the terms of this treaty Philip received Spain and 
Spanish America, but renounced all claim to the French 
throne ; the emperor received Belgium, Naples, Milan and 
Sardinia, and Prussia was accorded the formal acknowl¬ 
edgment of its monarchy. Gibraltar had been captured 
by the English in 1704, and they retained it, as well as a 
number of important colonies in America. France really 
had not lost much of her territory, but her power and 
prestige were injured, and she was burdened with a 
mountainous debt. 


CHAPTER XII. 


house of Austria ( Concluded ). 1438-1745. rise and 
PROGRESS OF PRUSSIA. 1713-1763. 

I HAVE already told you something about the first three 
kings of Prussia, which was destined to play a most 
important part in the affairs of Europe. You will re¬ 
member that the second'was Frederick William I., who 
reigned from 1713 to 1740, and I am sure you have not for¬ 
gotten what a grim old tyrant he was. With little education 
himself, he felt its importance, and founded several hun¬ 
dred elementary schools in his country. He allowed 
20,000 Protestant Salzburgers to settle there, and they 
proved a valuable addition. He spent large sums of 
money on his army, and his fondness for very tall sol¬ 
diers led him to pay them large prices and to obtain the 
giants wherever he could in Europe. 

Soon after he came to the throne he agreed to 
acknowledge what is termed the “Pragmatic Sanction,” 
by which Maria Theresa, only daughter of Charles VI., 
was to be allowed to inherit all the Austrian territories on 
her father’s death. This transfer from the male to the fe¬ 
male line was the earnest wish of the king, and he was 
successful in obtaining the concert of the other powers. 

The Prussian king had a stormy time with his son, who 
was bright and well educated, and with wholly different 
tastes from his. The old king disliked what he looked 

12— Ellis’ Gei'rnany. 163 


164 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

upon as the effeminate inclinations of his heir, while the 
latter detested the endless drill and monotonous service to 
which he was subjected. His discontent increased, until 
he made an attempt to run away, but was caught and 
brought back. The king in a towering rage ordered him 
to be put on trial as a deserter, expecting lie would be 

shot; but he was gently 
reminded that the law 
would not permit a 
court to sentence a 
member of the royal 
fa m i 1 y. Baffled in 
this direction, the king 
had the companion of 
his son beheaded be¬ 
fore his window, that 
it might serve as a 
warni ng to him against 
disobedience. Fred¬ 
erick then prayed for 
the pardon of his father 
and received it, but 
he did not escape punishment. He was- imprisoned for a 
year and compelled to work as a clerk in the war depart¬ 
ment, where the knowledge he gained proved of great 
value to him afterward. Most of the time he was obliged 
to live on bread and water. But the young man was 
made of the right stuff, and was destined to become one 
of the greatest generals and statesmen whose names figure 
in history. 



The Tobacco College of Frederick William I. 
Where Young Frederick (The €rreat) was 
Compelled to be Present by his Tyrannical 
Father. 













The Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. 


A woman of majestic figure ami undaunted spirit, combining feminine tact 
with masculine energy; she raised Austria from a wretched condition to 
a position of assured power. 




166 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

When Frederick’s freedom was restored to him, he 
and his grim old father became reconciled, and the latter w T as 
pleased when his son, instead of espousing the daughter 
of George II. of England, married the Princess of 
Brunswick-Bevern. The son was presented with a fine 
castle, where he spent most of his time in study and corres¬ 
pondence. The king died in 1740, leaving him a well 
regulated government with a large revenue, a fine army 
of 80,000 men, and more than $6,000,000 in the public 
treasury. 

Frederick II. determined to claim from the Empress 
of Austria the four Silesian Duchies which had been lost 
to Brandenburg through the Thirty Years’ War. He 
asked her for them, promising in return his help against 
Bavaria. The empress stamped her foot and said “ No !” 
But Frederick half expected that answer, and, although 
he had no moral or legal right for his action, he marched 
into Silesia and opened the First Silesian War (1740- 
1742). He met with success from the first, defeating the 
imperial army at Mollwitz in April, 1741, and was wel¬ 
comed by the inhabitants as a deliverer. 

It so happened that the elector of Bavaria had also 
claimed the Austrian heritage, and being supported by 
France, Spain and Saxony, the Austrian War of Succes¬ 
sion began. Invading Austria, the elector subdued Bo¬ 
hemia, and was crowned as Emperor Charles VII. in 1742 
at Frankfurt. He held that station until 1745, and was 
the last of the line of the house of Austria. 

Frederick won another victory at Hohenfriedberg, in 
June, 1745, over the United Imperial and Saxon forces, 



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168 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

and Maria Theresa, finding lierself threatened by other 
foes, made peace by granting his demand; all of Silesia 
and the county of Glatz were made over to Frederick. 
Hostilities broke out again in 1744, but nothing resulted 
from the Second Silesian War. Eight years of peace fol¬ 
lowed, during which Frederick devoted his energies to the 
advancement of Prussia, which became prosperous and 
grew in strength and importance. 

It is a sad pity that this peace could not have con¬ 
tinued, for, as I have just said, the Prussian king put it 
to the best use. He gave his whole attention to affairs of 
state, traveling about the country, so as to gain a personal 
knowledge of the condition and needs of his people. His 
favorite home was Sansouci, in Potsdam, where his asso¬ 
ciates were the best educated and most brilliant men of 
his time. Voltaire, the famous French wit and scholar, 
spent a long time with the king, who held him in high 
esteem. Great attention was given to the arts, and among 
the many important buildings erected by Frederick was 
the fine opera house in Berlin. 

But this happy state* of affairs could not continue, for 
in 1756 the Seven Years’ War, the greatest struggle of 
all, broke out. Although Frederick was the first to. draw 
the sword, his act was one of self-defence, and hie is not 
blamable. This was the cause : Austria made a secret 
treaty with France, and another with Russia, Poland, 
Sweden and Saxony, by which it was agreed to divide 
Prussia among them. Therefore, if Frederick had not 
made war, his kingdom would have been swallowed up by 
those greedy knaves. England promised to help Prussia, 
but she had not much heart in the work. 


1G9 


House of Austria ( Concluded). 

Frederick learned of this fearful alliance against him, 
and you may be sure he did not rest idle. With an army 
of 70,000 he invaded Saxony, captured Dresden, and de¬ 
feated the Austrians at Lowositz. In Dresden he seized 
the State papers, and found in them the whole story of the 
abominable plot that had been formed against him. 
These papers he published, that all the world might know 
the just cause he had for going to v r ar. 

The second campaign, opening in 1757 with the inva¬ 
sion of Bohemia by Frederick, was the greatest of all. 
He was at the head of an army of 100,000 men, and de¬ 
feated Prince Charles of Lorraine near Prague. Leav¬ 
ing the siege of Prague, he turned with an insufficient 
force to attack the enemy at Kollin, but suffered defeat, 
was obliged to abandon Prague and withdraw into Silesia. 
Then followed a thunder-burst of misfortunes. The Rus¬ 
sians had gained a victory on the eastern frontier, the 
Swedes in Pomerania advanced upon Berlin, and the 
English were driven disgracefully out of Hanover by the 
French, who were pressing into Saxony. 

Not only were the English routed, but their com¬ 
mander, the Duke of Cumberland, made a treaty with 
France, disbanded his army and gave up North Germany 
to that country. What earthly hope remained to Fred¬ 
erick? Nearly all the great powers were arrayed against 
him, and it looked as if nothing could prevent the vast 
armies from crushing his weak force. Dauntless as was 
the spirit of the great man, it seemed idle for him to con¬ 
tinue. He had often said he would never survive the ruin 
of his country, and, believing all was lost, he decided to 


170 


Young Peoples History of Germany. 

commit suicide. He always carried a phial of deadly 
poison, so as to be ready for the dreadful act. It is said 
that he had drawn this phial forth with the intention of 
swallowing its contents, when one of his officers struck 
down his hand. Then the spirits of Frederick seemed to 
rally, and he addressed himself to the herculean task be¬ 
fore him. 

A second French army was approaching Thuringia, 
and on the way was joined by the Imperial army. To 
keep the French out of Saxony, Frederick advanced with 
only a part of his force and attacked the enemy at the 
village of Rossbach, near the Saale. He had only 22,000 
men, while the foe numbered 60,000. 

This battle was so singular that I must tell you about 
it. The French did not believe Frederick would dare 
make a stand, and they set to work to surround him com¬ 
pletely, so as to prevent his escape. By making him 
prisoner, of course, the war would be ended, and that was 
what they were thinking of. While the French were thus 
employed not a Prussian soldier fired a shot. They busied 
themselves with cooking and eating their meals, Frederick 
himself joining his generals and staff with as much indif¬ 
ference as if there were not a foe within a hundred miles. 

But you need not be told that every Prussian was on 
the alert. Early in the afternoon Frederick gave the word. 
As if by magic, all the tents were struck, the army drawn 
up, and the artillery opened its tremendous fire. Then 
the dashing General Seidlitz, at the head of his gallant 
cavalry, struck the lines like a cyclone. The French had 
never encountered such bewildering rapidity of action. 



was more like a hunt than a battle. 













172 Young People’s History of Germany. 

which made it impossible to form in line. The cavalry 
swept back and forth, fighting like lions. In the brief 
space of half an hour the French were completely routed 
and overthrown. The majority fled in a wild, headlong 
panic, but the Prussians took 7,000 prisoners, including 
nine generals and three hundred and twenty officers of 
every rank, besides twenty-two standards and sixty-three 
pieces of cannon. Of the Prussians only 165 were killed 
and 350 wounded. The credit for this wonderful victory 
belonged to Frederick, who had the genius to plan and act 
quickly in a. desperate emergency. His army was in a 
splendid state of discipline, but much of the glory, as he 
himself insisted, was due to the rapid and resistless courage 
of General Seidlitz. 

I have spoken of the genius of Frederick for meeting 
desperate emergencies, and I must here relate an interesting 
anecdote. After the victory of Fossbaeh he hurried to 
Silesia, where the Austrians had gained several successes. 
On the 5th of December he attacked them on the immense 
plain near Leuthen, where, although he had only 30,000 
men opposed to 80,000, he won one of the most wonderful 
victories ever known. His success was due wholly to his 
marvellous generalship. Thousands of the Austrians were 
slain and 21,000 taken prisoners, besides one hundred and 
thirty cannon and three thousand ammunition and other 
wagons. 

After the battle Frederick rode out with a few com¬ 
panions to the palace of Lissa, near at hand. As he en¬ 
tered he found the building full of Austrian officers, who 
could have made him prisoner without the least difficulty. 


- V'*' ' 


I 


I 



Frederick the Great at the Palace of Lissa: ‘‘Bon Soir, Messieurs.” 

After the victory of Leuthen, the whole Prussian army sang a hymn of thanksgiving on the battlefield at night; 
and the sa.me evening Frederick narrowly, and by great presence of mind, escaped capture at Lissa. 








174 Young People’s History of Germany. 

They gathered on the stairs with burning lights to meet 
him, and, without showing the least alarm or excitement, 
Frederick bowed to them, with the greeting, ‘‘Bon Soir, 
Messieurs! I hardly suppose you expected to see me 
here!” They parted to allow him to pass between their 
ranks, and bowed in return, too bewildered to understand 
the golden opportunity that was theirs. Before their senses 
returned a squadron of Prussian hussars galloped up and 
made them all prisoners. 

These astonishing victories gave Silesia back to Fred¬ 
erick, while everywhere he was hailed as one of the greatest 
military geniuses that ever lived. The city of London 
was illuminated in his honor, and the enthusiastic English 
Parliament voted him $3,500,000 a year, which was dis¬ 
continued some time later. 

Throughout 1758 the general result of the campaign 
was favorable to the Prussians, who still held Silesia, while 
the French had been driven out of Germany, but the fol¬ 
lowing year brought disaster. Frederick suffered a fearful 
defeat by the Russians at Kunersdorf in Brandenburg, 
Dresden was captured and held by the Austrians, and a 
Prussian army, numbering 20,000, was hemmed in by 
Austrians among the passes of Bohemia and compelled to 
surrender. 

Thus the year 1760 opened with the brave Frederick 
at bay before 200,000 bayonets, which goaded him from 
all sides. In his desperation he made a dash at Torgau, 
and by winning a victory saved his monarchy from anni¬ 
hilation ; but it looked as if his doom was postponed for 
only a brief time, and once more he fondled the phial of 


House of Austria ( Concluded ). 175 

poison, almost certain that the hour had now come for him 
to end it all. 

But now took place a strange thing. Bather, it was 
not strange of itself, but its results were remarkable. In 
January, 1762, Elizabeth of Bussia, Frederick’s implacable 
enemy, died, and Peter III., his warm admirer and friend, 
came to the throne, and not only made peace with Fred¬ 
erick, but sent an army to help him. Sweden did the 
same. In 1763 England, France and Spain concluded a 
treaty of peace, by which, as you will remember, France 
lost all her possessions in America. This left Austria and 
Prussia confronting each other alone, and they also made 
peace. Thus the Seven Years’ War came to an end. The 
German territory was substantially as before, while Prussia 
retained Silesia. 


CHAPTEB XIII. 

GROWTH OF PRUSSIA. 1763-1791. 

“T^BEDEBICK the Great” was the title now applied 
J/ to the King of Prussia throughout Europe, and 
you will admit that he deserved the honor. He 
had raised his country to the rank of one of the “ Five 
Great Powers,” the others being England, France,. Aus¬ 
tria and Bussia. The generalship displayed by him in 
his contest with the tremendous armies of his enemies was 



176 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


never surpassed, and, wliat is no less to his credit, lie 
proved himself as great in peace as in war. 

Prussia had been wasted and weakened by the terrible 
struggle, and he now set to work to bring back its pros¬ 
perity. All the cavalry and artillery horses that could 
be spared were distributed among the farmers, and his 
granaries were opened and seed-corn given to the impover¬ 
ished husbandmen. Not only were the poor relieved from 
paying taxes, but, when necessary, they were helped; 
enormous waste tracts of land were brought under cultiva¬ 
tion ; 50,000 new colonists were induced to settle in his 
dominions, and 500 villages were founded. He did not 
forget to increase at the same time the strength of his army 
and to preserve its discipline, for none knew better than 
he that there is no such thing as chivalry among nations, 
and that the surest way to invite invasion and destruction 
is to show yourself unable to prevent it. He used the 
strictest economy, but of necessity taxes were heavy upon 
those who were able to pay ; but who could complain when 
the king himself gave five-sixths of his income toward bear¬ 
ing the burden? 

Frederick was tolerant in religious matters, and Protest¬ 
ants and Catholics received the same treatment. Every¬ 
body liked him, for they knew he was impartial and would 
see that equal justice was shown to all. There is a story 
that when he found an old windmill stood in the way of 
his new park at Sansouci he went to the owner and offered 
him a liberal price for it. The miller shook his head; he 
didn’t wish to sell. The king offered him a greater sum, 
and promised to build the owner a larger and better wind- 



Frederick was an able administrator, and carried on his wars without 
incurring any debts. He laid the foundation of Prussia’s greatness. 


Frederick the Great of Prussia: “Unser Fritz.” 


































178 Young People’s History of Germany. 

mill. But lie still shook his head. “ My grandfather 
built this mill,” the miller said ; “ I inherited it from my 
father, and my children shall inherit it from me.” 

“ Don’t you know,” asked the king, growing impatient, 
“ that, if I chose, I could take it from you without paying 
anything ? ” 

The miller chuckled. 

“ You might have done so once , hut the new law courts 
at Berlin won’t let you do it now.” 

Nothing could have pleased Frederick more than this 
compliment to the justice of the law. He dismissed the 
miller graciously, and that very mill is standing to-day, a 
monument of the king’s justice. 

Frederick insisted upon being the government itself, 
and, since he was honest and wise and the friend of the 
people, they trusted and believed in him. This was all 
very well so long as he was king, but the trouble was sure 
to come when he gave way to a successor who lacked his 
admirable qualities. 

I have told you in another place that among the wits 
and brilliant men whom Frederick invited to Sansouci 
was Voltaire, the famous Frenchman. Frederick had 
formed a great admiration for him when the old king 
ruled and the son was in disfavor. Voltaire and young 
Frederick corresponded, and the Frenchman went to Ber¬ 
lin in response to a warm invitation from the king. He 
staid there nearly three years, treated all the while like 
an honored guest, but he was much disliked because he 
was always sneering at German tastes and habits. Finally 
Frederick lost patience, the two had a bitter quarrel, and 


Growth of Prussia. 179 



that Joseph II. bore the name of 


Voltaire left in high dudgeon, the two never afterward 
becoming friends again. 

Now bear in mind 
German Emperor 
from 1765 to 1790, 
but he was only a 
figure-head. Maria 
Theresa, his mother, 
who lived until 1780, 
kept the guidance of 
Austrian affairs wholly 
in her own hands. 

Joseph felt a strong 
admiration for the 
genius and statesman¬ 
ship of Frederick, and 
at the meetings of the 
two, in 1769 and 1770, 
the old enemies talked 
in the most friendly 
manner. 

“ Unhappy Po¬ 
land ” now attracted 
the attention of Prus¬ 
sia and Germany, for it was in a hapless plight. There 
was constant confusion and trouble, because of which 
Russia interfered. It soon became so clear that Poland 
would in the end become a Russian province that Austria, 
Prussia and Russia decided to divide it among them. 
The first division took place in 1772, the second in 1793, 

13— Ellis’ Germany. 


Frederick the Great on Horseback. 
From a Painting, 1777. 



180 Young People’s History of Germany. 

and the last in 1795, and that was the end of Poland, 
which passed out of existence. In justice to Maria 
Theresa it must be said that she consented to the first 
step in this partition with much reluctance, for she did not 
hold it justified by the anarchy in Poland. Moreover, 
with all that has been said in praise of Frederick the 
Great, it must be added that he felt no compunctions of 
conscience, and, in truth, was never troubled in that way 
when the chance offered of strengthening or extending his 
own territory at the expense of a neighbor. 

When the elector of Bavaria died without heirs, 
Joseph II. laid claim to that country; but Frederick, who 
did not mean that Austria should grow too strong in South 
Germany, marched into Bohemia in 1778 and opened what 
is known as the Austrian War of Succession,. For a long 
time the Austrian and Prussian armies faced each other, 
but hesitated to open battle. Prussia sided with Prussia, 
and Maria Theresa asked Bussia and France to mediate. 
As a consequence, peace was agreed upon in 1779. Joseph, 
however, was not satisfied, and in 1785, after the death of 
his mother, he made another attempt to secure Bavaria, 
but again Frederick frustrated him by forming the League 
of Princes , whereupon Joseph gave up his scheme. 

Upon the death of Maria Theresa, in 1780, Joseph 
introduced many wise reforms in his dominions, the most 
noted being the Edict of Tolerance. He met with much 
opposition, for he made the mistake of imposing the same 
rigid laws upon widely different nationalities. Bevolts 
occurred, and, much to his grief, lie was compelled to give 
up his cherished plans for the betterment of his people. 


Growth of Prussia. 


181 



In addition, he took deeply to heart the failure of his 
war against the Turks, and no 
doubt his death in 1790 was hast¬ 
ened by his disappointments. 

His brother, Leopold II., came 
to the throne in the year named, 
and, though he reigned only until 
1792, he did a vast deal of good. 

Seeing how impracticable most of 
the reforms of his predecessor were, 
he abolished them; he soothed 
Hungary, which was in a ferment; 
subdued Belgium, and made peace 
with the Turks. His son, Francis 
II., became German Emperor in 
1792, reigning as such until 1806, 
and as Emperor of Austria from 
1804 to 1835. It was under this 
worthless wretch that Germany 
was called upon to pass through 
the lowest valley of humiliation 
in her history, the particulars of 
which are given in the following 
chapters. 

Frederick the Great died Au¬ 
gust 17,1786, at the age of seventy- 
four, leaving a kingdom of 6,- 
000,000 inhabitants, an army of 
more than 200,000 trained sol- Pl . u99ia „ Grenadier. 
diei'S, and a sum exceeding $50,- Time of Frederick the Great. 



182 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

000,000 in the treasury. Vast indeed was the work 
which he did for his country, and his name will always 
be revered. 

Frederick William II., nephew of Frederick the Great, 
ascended the Prussian throne in 1786, and reigned until 
1797. He was inferior in every respect to his predecessor. 
Under his rule political and religious liberty were much 
restricted; Prussia formed an alliance with England and 
Holland, as opposed to the Austrian-Russian alliance. It 
was under Leopold II. and Frederick William II. that the 
second and third partition of Poland took place. 

One shameful truth must be mentioned: Germany 
made French customs, manners and fashions her model. 
Hundreds of miserable French adventurers swarmed 
thither and displaced the ablest Germans in the public 
offices and posts of trust; the vices and immoralities of 
France flowed in a poisoned stream through the empire 
and wrought much evil. 

And yet there are a few names that shine like beacon 
lights amid this gloom. Among them are Gotthold 
Ephraim Y. Lessing, the brilliant critic, dramatist and 
miscellaneous writer, born in 1729 and died in 1781. He 
infused a new spirit into German literature. His writings 
are among the classics of his country, and are distinguished 
for masterly criticism, forcible reasoning and brilliancy of 
style. Carlisle himself, one of the most brilliant of writers, 
said of Lessing: “He thinks with the clearness and piercing 
sharpness of the most expert logician; but a genial fire 
pervades him—a wit, a heartiness, a general richness and 
fineness of nature to which most logicians are strangers.” 


Growth of Prussia. 


183 


Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ( got'teh ), the greatest 
modern poet of Germany, and the regenerator of German 
literature, was born in 1749 and died in 1832. His first 
romantic drama was produced in 1773, and roused great 
enthusiasm in the German liter¬ 
ary world. A year later he 
brought out The Sufferings of 
Young Werther , which became 
immensely popular. In 1775 
the Duke of Saxe Weimar in¬ 
vited Goethe to take up -his 
residence at his court, where he 
shone as the bright particular 
sun among the other literary 
stars, which included such as 
Wieland, Schiller, Herder and 
S enckeii dorff. In 1792 he ac¬ 
companied the army of the King 
of Prussia and the Duke of 
Brunswick in its French cam¬ 
paign, of which he wrote the his¬ 
tory. When he returned he was 
appointed Minister of State. In 
1805 appeared the first portion 
of his great masterpiece, Faust, which placed him on the 
crest of literary fame. Two years later the Czar of Russia 
conferred upon him the order of St. Alexander Newski, and 
Napoleon followed with the grand cross of the Legion of 
Honor. The second part of Faust appeared in 1831. It 
was said of Goethe that he represented in himself alone 



Leopold II. in Imperial Robes. 



184 Young Peoples History of Germany. 



tlie whole of German literature. His keen and profound 

insight into 
human life 
and charac¬ 
ter, his en- 
cyclopediac 
knowledge, 
his sublime 
imagination, 
his exquisite 
sensibility 
and play of 
fancy, and 
his consum¬ 
mate style 
place him 
high in the 
constellation 
of literary 
genius that 
appeared in 
the latter 
half of the 
seventeenth 
and begin¬ 
ning of the 
eighteenth 
ce n turies. 

He was in truth the master mind of the fatherland. 

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller ( shil'lr ) was 


Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 





Growth of Prussia. 


185 


born in 1759 and died in 1806. He studied medicine, 
was surgeon in a regiment, and at the age of twenty-one 
wrote his tragedy of The Robbers , which at once gave him 
a front rank among the dramatists of liis country. He pro¬ 
duced other tragedies, which added to his fame, and he 
became the warm friend of Goethe. In 1789 he was ap¬ 
pointed to the chair of history in the University of Jena, 
where his lectures were attended by crowded audiences. 
He wrote various literary works, among them a History of 
the Thirty Years War . He also produced the Xenian , a 
collection of epigrams, and” wrote his Ballads , which rank 
with the finest compositions of their kind in any language. 
Among the works that have immortalized Schiller are 
Wallenstein , Mary Stuart , Joan of Arc and William Tell . 


CHAPTER XIV. 

RISE OF FRANCE AND DOWNFALL OF GERMANY. 

1791-1806. 

Y OU will find in our History of France a full ac¬ 
count of the overturning of the French throne, the 
awful Reign of Terror, the meteor-like rise of Na¬ 
poleon Bonaparte, the colossal wars between the nations, 
the wonderful success of the greatest military genius that 
ever lived, his downfall, the recasting of the map of 



186 Young People’s History of Germany. 

Europe, and the subsequent events in the history of France 
down to the present time. 

The great Napoleon played football with the king¬ 
doms and monarchies around him, and since none received 
more merciless treatment than Germany, it is necessary to 
recall the principal events of those woful days in Europe, 
when, as one writer said, the Corsican threatened to dis¬ 
turb the equilibrium of the universe. 

As you remember, the revolt in France was caused by 
the horrible tyranny which the people had endured for 
generations. Ground into the dust, the writhing worm at 
last turned, and the atrocities that followed appalled the 
world. The National Assembly set up in France became 
a hideous engine of death, and tens of thousands of inno¬ 
cent men and women were killed against whom not the 
shadow of wrongdoing could be brought. The Christian 
religion was abolished, churches were closed and Sunday 
proclaimed a thing of the past. The “Age of Reason ” 
was set up, and a shameless actress was borne on a litter 
to the Cathedral of Notre Dame, placed upon the altar, 
and adored as the “ Goddess of Reason.” 

But the germ of the revolt against tyranny was justice 
and the rights of the people. The result was the spirit 
of insurrection run wild. The ideas of democracy or 
government by the people spread into the surrounding 
countries, and many patriots in Germany hailed the era 
as the dawn of better things, while the monarchs them¬ 
selves trembled, for none dared attempt to foretell when 
the storm would break upon his dominions, nor how long 
it would rage, nor what the end would be. 



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188 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

It was inevitable that the French National Assembly 
should soon begin to interfere with the rights of the German 
Imperial States, and it was only natural that the princes 
of those numerous petty States should appeal to the Em¬ 
peror Leopold II. to protect them against such an invasion 
of their privileges. Besides, there were thousands of 
Frenchmen who had fled to Germany from the Beign of 
Terror, and they begged the emperor to lead an army into 
France and set up the monarchy again. The emperor 
hesitated to undertake the tremendous task alone, for he 
could not feel sure of his own people, among whom the 
seeds of discontent had been widely sown. Moreover, 
none of the other powers showed a disposition to join him 
and he had good ground for being deliberate. 

Matters grew more threatening, and in August, 1791, 
the emperor met the King of Prussia at Pilnitz to discuss 
the dangerous situation. An attempt was made-to keep 
peace with France, but Leopold saw it could not be done, 
and, in the following year, he formed an alliance with 
Prussia. A few days later the emperor died, and was suc¬ 
ceeded by his detestable son, Francis II. The attempt oi 
Frederick William to create an alliance of Prussia, Aus¬ 
tria, Bussia and Sweden against France only succeeded 
so far as I have named, and added to the intense resent¬ 
ment of the French National Assembly against Germany. 
France demanded of Austria that she should disarm, and 
was answered that this would be done if France would 
make good her violation of rights in the Imperial States. 
The National Assembly promptly declared war. 

Prussia and Austria, supported by a few of the smaller 


Rise of France and Downfall of Germany. 189 

States, raised two armies, one numbering 110,000, com¬ 
manded by the Duke of Brunswick, which was to march 
through Belgium to Paris, while the other army of 50,- 
000 was to occupy Alsace. The movements were pon¬ 
derous, the commanders wrangled, and, in September, 1792, 
the Germans were checked at Valmy and compelled to 
retreat toward the Rhine. The 
French displayed amazing vigor, 
and gained such successes that by 
the close of the year all Belgium 
and Aix-la-Chapelle itself fell into 
their hands. Meanwhile, another 
French army advanced to the 
Rhine, and captured Speyer 
{spire ), Worms and Mayence. In 
the latter city a republican move¬ 
ment was set on foot intended to 
affect the sentiment of Germany. 

These successes were followed 
in January, 1793, by the execu¬ 
tion of Louis XVI., and, in 
October following, by that of 
Maria Antoinette. These dreadful acts horrified Eu¬ 
rope and led to the formation of the First Coalition, in 
which England, Holland, Prussia, Austria, the “ German 
Empire,” Sardinia, Naples and Spain combined to crush 
France. The only monarch who failed to join was Cath¬ 
arine II. of Russia, not because she did not hate France, 
but because she wished to remain free to benefit her em¬ 
pire at the expense of Turkey and Poland. You will re- 



Emperor Francis II. 


190 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

member that tlie last partition of Poland liad not taken 
place at that time. 

Most of the year 1793 was favorable to the allies. 
The French were driven out of Belgium, and were de¬ 
feated by the Austrians on the Rhine at Neerwinden and 
Kaiserslautern, but these defeats only roused France to 
greater energy, while her enemies had no unity of action. 

Prussia and Austria were jealous of 
each other, and some of the com¬ 
manders were sluggish and ineffi¬ 
cient. France summoned the whole 
country to arms, and in the follow¬ 
ing year her armies entered and 
occupied Belgium a second time. 
Spain, Holland and Sardinia gave 
scarcely any help while Holland 
was conquered, William V. of Or¬ 
ange fleeing in haste to England, 
whereupon Holland was turned 
into a Batavian Republic, de¬ 
pendent on France. Frederick 
William II. was so dissatisfied that he withdrew from 
the coalition and made a treaty, independent of the 
others, with France. This treaty was signed in 1795, 
and is known as that of Basle. By its terms Prussia 
ceded the left side of the Rhine and pledged herself not 
to interfere in Belgium and Holland. All the territory 
north of a line drawn through Germany from the Main 
to Silesia was to be kept neutral by Prussia, while the 
territory south was to share the fate of Austria. In one 




Rise of France and Downfall of Germany. 191 

sense, this was a good tiling for Prussia, since it secured 
her peace for ten years, but in the end it left her wholly 
alone when she was in sore need of help. 

The partition of Poland having been completed, Cath¬ 
arine II. now joined England and Austria in the war 
against France. She agreed to 
send both an army and fleet; 

Austria was to raise 200,000 
men, and England was to con¬ 
tribute $20,000,000 toward the 
expenses of the war. The French 
were defeated in several engage¬ 
ments by the Austrians on the 
Rhine, but little was accom¬ 
plished during the summer of 
1795, and an armistice was de¬ 
clared in January, 1796. Peace 
had been made by Spain and 
Sardinia, and Austria was grow¬ 
ing weary of the war. 

But by this time Napoleon Moreau. 

Bonaparte had fairly begun 
his marvellous career. United with him were Moreau 
( mo-ro '), Massena and others, who, following his rule of 
making the conquered States pay the expenses of the war, 
and often a great deal more, added immense sums to the 
public treasury, strengthened the French Republic and 
roused the people to the glory of further conquests. Thus 
the coalition against France resulted in making it more 
powerful than before. 



192 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

It took Napoleon but a short time to conquer the north 
of Italy, his purpose being to press on to Vienna, where 
a second French army was to meet him, by advancing 
through Germany. This army, however, was defeated by 
the Archduke Charles, brother of the emperor, who com¬ 
pelled it to retire into Bavaria. 
Napoleon continued his ad¬ 
vance into Austria, capturing 
Mantua and gaining new vic¬ 
tories over the Austrians. 
The brilliant Archduke could 
not check him, and he was 
close to Vienna when he con¬ 
cluded the Peace of Campo 
Formio in 1797. In the fol¬ 
lowing year Lombardy, the 
Papal States and the Swiss 
Confederation were made re¬ 
spectively into a Cis-Alpine, a 
Bo man and a Helvetian repub¬ 
lic, all dependent upon France. 

That country had been so successful that she became 
arrogant and demanded new concessions. All Europe was 
alarmed, and another coalition was proposed, but the year 
1798 drew to a close without it being done. Napoleon at 
that time was absent in Egypt, from which, as you will 
remember, he made a hurried and secret return to France, 
prompted bv a clear perception of the momentous events 
impending. 

The second coalition was formed early in 1799, with 
England, Russia, Austria,, Naples and Turkey arrayed 



Jourdan. 


Rise of France and Downfall of Germany. 193 

against France, while Spain and Prussia persisted in re¬ 
maining neutral. In Russia, Paul I. had succeeded Catha¬ 
rine, and in Prussia King Frederick William III. suc¬ 
ceeded his father in 1797, reigning until 1840. He, too, 
believed that the only safety of Prussia lay in preserving 
peace, and he could not be 
persuaded to enter into a war 
with France. 

Hostilities opened early in 
the year. The two French 
generals, Jourdan and Bgr- 
nadotte, were defeated by 
the Archduke, who thus re¬ 
leased the risdit side of the 
Rhine. In Italy the French 
armies, being without the pres¬ 
ence of Napoleon, were de¬ 
feated, and the Russians 
under General Suwarrow, and 
aided by the Austrians, re¬ 
conquered North Italy— 

Genoa and Nice being all 
that was left to the French. Two French ambassadors were 
waylaid and murdered by a party of Austrian hussars, it 
is believed by order of the court at Vienna. No investi¬ 
gation was ordered, and the French people were roused to 
fury against Austria for the infamous act. 

Suwarrow, disgusted with the interference of the Aus¬ 
trian generals, fought his way through the gorges of the 
Alps, and was soon afterward recalled by the Russian 
emperor, who had become suspicious of Austria, and 



Bernadoite. 


194 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

began to feel friendly disposed toward France. The 
English campaign in the Netherlands was an utter failure. 

Napoleon’s scheme for overthrowing England’s su¬ 
premacy in Egypt failed, owing to the destruction of the 
whole French fleet at Aboukir (ah-boo-heer') Bay by 


Nelson, August 1,1798, and, as has 
been stated, he made a hasty and 
secret return to France, where, on 
liis arrival, he overthrew the gov¬ 
ernment and made himself First 
Consul for ten years. This was in 
November, 1799. Being now at 
the head of the nation, he proposed 
peace to the coalition on the basis 
of the Treaty of Campo Formio, 
but England and Austria refused, 
believing that the fortunes of war 
were inclining in their favor. Na¬ 
poleon had no trouble in holding 
Prussia neutral, and, since Eng¬ 
land’s only part in the war was 
through her navy and contribu¬ 



tions of money, France, with her armies flushed with vic¬ 
tory and commanded by her best generals, had to face only 
Austria. To add to her advantage, the only good general 
Austria had in the field, the Archduke Charles, lost 
patience with the continual interference of the Court of 
Vienna, and threw up his command, which was given to the 
Archduke John, who, although only a boy nineteen years 
old, was placed at the head of an army of 100,000 men. 


Rise of France and Downfall of Germany. 195 

This immense force was strewn along from the Alps to 
Frankfurt, and Moreau had no trouble in breaking through 
it and overrunning Baden and Wiirtemburg. About the 
same time Napoleon hastily and secretly collected another 
army, made a terrific march over the St. Bernard Pass in 
the Alps, and descended upon 
Italy like a cyclone. On the 
field of Marengo a tremendous 
battle was fought, June 14, 

1800. Marengo was a village 
on the vast plains between 
Alessandria and Tortona. The 
battle was as obstinate as it was 
furious, lasting for thirteen 
hours. Victory inclined toward 
the Austrian side, for they re¬ 
pulsed the Frencli four times, 
and a retreat was under way 
when, at the critical juncture, 

Desaix ( do-zay '), one of the 
bravest and most dashing of the 
French generals, arrived with 
the reserves. He was mortally wounded by a cannon ball, 
but his men fought with such desperation that a comjjlete 
victory resulted, and everything that had been gained by 
the Austrians during their campaign was lost. The French 
obtained possession of all of North Italy. 

Napoleon now offered peace to Austria on the same 
terms as before, and an armistice was concluded. The 
emperor, however, was foolish enough to believe he still 

14— Ellis' Germany. 




196 Young People’s History of Germany. 

had hope, and he employed the interval in recruiting his 
armies. When the truce ended Moreau advanced against 
the new Austrian army of 90,000, and the two forces met 
at Hohenlinden on the 3d of December. One of the most 
furious and bloody of battles was fought in the midst of a 
blinding snowstorm, where the combatants could see each 
other only by the flashes of their guns. The French were 
victorious, and nothing could have saved Vienna from 
capture had not the emperor concluded the treaty of Lune- 
ville on terms which practically broke up the German 
empire. This treaty, made February 9, 1801, reduced the 
fifty-two free German cities to six—Frankfort, Hamburg, 
Bremen, Lubeck, Nuremburg and Augsburg; Germany 
lost three million inhabitants, and only a shadow of Aus¬ 
tria’s influence in Germany and Italy remained. For this 
calamity the indifference of Prussia and the lack of politi¬ 
cal common sense on the part of Austria were responsible. 

France was now supreme in Europe. Prussia was so 
scared that she dared not raise a hand or voice in protest; 
Austria had been shorn of her power; Holland, Switzerland 
and Italy were dominated by France; Spain, Denmark 
and Russia were friendly, and in 1802 England consented 
to make peace with Napoleon, who, in the same year, de¬ 
clared himself First Consul for life, and for years to follow 
held France in the hollow of his hand. 

No nation with any spirit could remain long at peace 
with a ruler of such boundless ambition as Napoleon 
Bonaparte. It was easy for him to find a pretext for war, 
and he soon found it with England. Hanover was over¬ 
run and plundered, while Prussia and the other German 
States looked on and said and did nothing. 



Charge of the Twelfth Hussars in the Battle of Marengo. 

Sweeping down with furious shouts, the hussars burst through the Austrian columns, scattering them to the right and' 
left in utter rout. General de Zacli and his grenadiers were cut off, surrounded, and compelled to surrender. Na¬ 
poleon was so proud of the day that he named his favorite charger in honor of it. 















198 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

One of the many cruel acts of Napoleon was committed 
in March, 1804, when he sent a body of armed men across 
the Rhine into Baden, seized the Duke d’Enghien, a 
fugitive Bourbon prince, and had him brought to Paris 
and shot. Indifferent to the horror and indignation 
caused by the crime, Napoleon, two months later, assumed 
the title of Emperor of the French ; changed the Repub¬ 
lics of Italy into the Kingdom of Italy, and began a rule 
the like of which the world has never seen and is not 
likely ever to see again. 

England, Austria and Russia were determined to 
cripple Napoleon, and they formed the Third Coalition. 
Much effort and time were wasted in trying to persuade 
Prussia to enter into the alliance, but the king not only 
refused, but sent troops to prevent the Russian army 
from crossing his territory on their way to join the Aus¬ 
trians. The summer of 1805 saw the coalition completed, 
Sweden having been added, and plans were formed for 
sending nearly 400,000 bayonets into the field against 
France. 

Napoleon learned what was doing, and gathered an 
army of 200,000 at Boulogne for the invasion of Eng¬ 
land, but, giving up that plan, marched swiftly into 
Southern Germany, secured the alliance of Baden, Wiir- 
temberg and Bavaria, and, with a considerable addition 
to his army, he struck with his usual bewildering sud¬ 
denness. The fortress of Ulm, held by an Austrian gar¬ 
rison of 24,000, was obliged to surrender. The French 
pressed onward, scattered the opposition of portions of the 
allied forces along the Danube, and, on November 13, 


Rise of France and Downfall of Germany. 199 

Napoleon made his triumphal entry into Vienna, while 
Francis II. and the Austrian court fled to Presburg. 

The Russian and Austrian armies had united in Mo¬ 
ravia, both the emperors, Alexander and Francis, being 
present. Napoleon acted as if trying to avoid a battle, 
and thereby drew on his enemy to meet him in the 
field. On December 2, at Austerlitz, was fought what 
the Germans call the “Battle of the Three Emperors. ,, 
It was a great French victory, the losses of the allies 
amounting to 15,000 killed and wounded, 20,000 prisoners 
and 200 cannon. 

The blow was decisive and crushing, and Francis II. 
went personally to Napoleon and begged for an armis¬ 
tice, which was granted. A treaty of peace was signed 
three weeks after the battle, by which Austria gave up 
Venice to France, Tyrol to Bavaria, and other territory 
to Baden and Wiirtemberg; accepted the policy of France 
in Italy, Holland and Switzerland, and recognized Bavaria 
and Wiirtemberg as independent kingdoms; bound her¬ 
self to pay $20,000,000 to France, and to permit the 
formation of a new confederation of the smaller German 
States, to be under the protectorship of Napoleon. This, 
in 1806, was made the Rhenish Confederation , which was 
entered into by seventeen States, that, together, formed a 
third power, independent both of Austria and Prussia. 
Each German prince was granted sovereignty in his own 
State, and each bound himself to aid Napoleon and to 
furnish him a certain number of men in the event of war. 

When the existence of the Confederation was declared 
at the Diet of Regensburg, the unworthy Emperor Francis II. 


200 


Young Peoples History of Germany. 

laid down bis German imperial crown, and from that time 
forward wore the title of Emperor of Austria only instead 
of the proud one of “ Emperor of the Holy Homan Em¬ 
pire of the German Nation.” Founded by Charlemagne, 
Germany had existed for a thousand years, reaching its 
culmination under the Hohenstauffens, but even then the 
dry rot was at its roots and it had long ceased to be a 
nation before the official declaration was made of that 
fact. 

The ancient German Empire was dead. The left side 
of the Rhine and its beautiful towns were French, and 
the States of the Rhenish Confederation were French vas¬ 
sals, and Austria could only look on with lips that were 
mute and hands that were powerless while the Corsican 
wrought out his terrible will. 


CHAPTER XV. 

napoleon’s overshadowing power. 1806-1813. 

N APOLEON was like a huge mastiff, sitting on his 
haunches, with a lot of timid poodles gathered 
round him. If one ventured to raise his head, a 
warning growl from the master caused him to drop it in¬ 
stantly, in mortal fear of the massive jaws. A little way 
off several bigger dogs were crouched, with their eyes on 



Napoleon’s Overshadowing Power. 201 

the mastiff. They were talking together in their own 
language and wondering whether, if they made a combined 
attack upon the big brute, they could not put him to flight. 
“ Let me alone,” he growled; “ do not interfere with me 
and you won’t get hurt; but the 
moment you mix in it will be 
the worse for you.” 

The German Empire, as I 
have said, existed no longer. 

The Austrian emperor had given 
up the title of ruler in 1806 r and 
that which had borne the proud 
name of empire was simply a 
collection of puny little States, 
so completely the slaves of Na¬ 
poleon that they bound them¬ 
selves to help him fight their 
own neighbors whenever it was 
his Imperial will that they 
should do SO. Prussia had acted Joseph Bonaparte, 

the coward, and because of that 

she had to drink deep of the bitter cup of humiliation. 
Austria had been stubborn and foolish, but the severe 
lesson had been taught to her. England, Russia and some 
weaker countries were wondering what was coming next. 

Now note how Napoleon played havoc with the nations 
around him. He gave the kingdom of Naples to his 
weak, elder brother Joseph; made his stepson Viceroy of 
Italy; changed Holland into a kingdom and presented it 
to his brother Louis; turned over the Duchy of Jiilich, 



202 


Young People’s History of Germany. 



Cleves and Berg to Murat (mah-rati ), his brother-in-law, 
while the German States, with their population of 13,000,- 
000, were made into a confederation, of which Napoleon 
was the Protector. 

By this arrangement the German empire was divided 
into: 1. Austria, which had 
just been conquered. 2. Prus¬ 
sia, weak and cowardly. 3. 
The remainder, whose policy 
was regulated by a Diet held 
at Frankfurt. 

The only nation which felt 
friendly toward poor, miserable 
Prussia was England. Napo¬ 
leon ordered Prussia to give up 
Anspach and Bayreuth to Ba¬ 
varia, taking Hanover in their 
place, and this offended Eng¬ 
land. Southern Germany was 
overrun by the French armies, 

Frederick William III. wh ° were so brutal and savage 
that the people grew impatient 
with their government; but Frederick William III. was too 
scared to do anything until, in the summer of 1806, when 
he discovered that Napoleon had offered Hanover to Eng¬ 
land and Prussian Poland to Russia as a condition of peace. 
Then, when the king was without any real ally, he decided 
to make war against Napoleon. The little poodle at last 
dared to raise its head and face the mastiff. 

Napoleon must have smiled grimly when he learned 


203 


Napoleon’s Overshadowing Power. 

all this, for it offered him just the kind of amusement he 
enjoyed. While Frederick William III. was getting ready, 
Napoleon arrived in Franconia at the head of an army of 
200,000 men, a part of whom were furnished by the con¬ 
federation itself. Prussia, aided by Saxony and Weimar, 
mustered 150,000 soldiers, who, 
advancing to the bases of the 
Thuringian Mountains, were 
met by the French on October 
14, 1806. Two battles were 
fought, one at Jena and "the 
other at Auerstadt, in which 
the Prussians were defeated 
and scattered like so much 
chaff in a hurricane. 

The'terrific disaster threw 
Prussia into a wild panic, so 
that fortress and post, one after 
the other, surrendered upon 
the approach of the French 
without firing a gun. Ten 
days after the first victories 
the invaders were in Berlin, 
and a month later Napoleon himself rode into the city 
in triumph. The people were so terrified at sight of 
the mighty conqueror that they agreed, for the sake of 
peace, to give up all of the kingdom west of the Elbe. r l he 
king, who had run away, would not consent to this sur¬ 
render, and made an alliance with Alexander I. of Russia 
to continue fighting. Napoleon, who was as great in 




204 Young People s History of Germany. 

diplomacy as war, bound Saxony to him by elevating it 
to a kingdom, held Austria neutral, started a revolt in 
Prussian Poland and got possession of Silesia, The chance 
was a fine one for England to do effective work, but she 
did nothing. 

Marching eastward during the winter, Napoleon met 
the Prussians and Russians, 
at the bloody battle of Eylau 
(i'low), February 8, 1807. The 
result was indecisive, and he 
made a truce for several 
months. This gave an oppor¬ 
tunity for an alliance on the 
part of England and Sweden 
with Russia and Prussia, Hos¬ 
tilities were resumed at the 
opening of summer, and on 
June 14 Napoleon, with a 
much suj:>erior army, beat the 
allies so decisively at Fried- 
land that they were driven 
tumultuously over the river 
Memel into Russian territory. 

This tremendous battle lasted from daylight until the 
middle of the night. The Russians fought with the greatest 
bravery, and the victory was theirs; but in their elation 
they forgot prudence, and failed to take the precaution in 
which alone lay safety. As the afternoon was drawing to 
a close the divisions under Ney ( na ') and Victor, together 
with Bonaparte’s guard, charged upon the field with shouts 



Murat. 


Napoleon’s Overshadowing Power. 205 

of “ Vive L’Empereur!” and drove everything before 
them. 

The Russians immediately concluded an armistice. 
Alexander I. met Napoleon on a raft in the river and a 
strange result followed. The weak, sentimental Russian 
monarch formed an intense admiration for Napoleon, and 
became his ally! You may be 
sure that the great man made 
the best of the opportunity thus 
thrown in his way. At another 
interview Frederick William 
III. was present, and the Peace 
of Tilsit was declared on July 
9, 1807, by which Prussia lost 
nearly half her territory and 
population. Moreover, the total 
amount of contributions that 
she had to pay was about $150,- 
000,000, and she was obliged 
to maintain a French army in 
her shrunken territory until 
the last penny was handed over. 

Her cowardly course was receiving its punishment. The 
Russian emperor consented to all this, and the Prussian 
queen, Louisa, died soon afterward, broken-hearted because 
of the calamities of her country. A new kingdom of 
Westphalia was formed, over which Jerome, the brother 
of Napoleon, was made king. Germany had now reached 
the lowest depth of degradation. Fortunately, the men 
at the helm of government were wise and far-seeing, and 



Gustavus III., King of Sweden. 


206 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


the measures they set on foot promised to bear good fruit 
ere long, though no one could say when the day of de¬ 
liverance would come. Austria also toiled in the same 
direction, and Napoleon viewed the policy of the two with 
misgiving. He had conquered Spain and made his brother 
Joseph king, his brother-in-law succeeding him as King 


of Naples. There were so many 
revolts in Spain that Napoleon 
was obliged to keep a consider¬ 
able force there. Austria thought 
the chance a favorable one for 
regaining the rights of which 



,» o n o 

she had been robbed, and began 

- .. 1 „ ,1 » 


H war. She first appealed “to the 
g| German nation,” but that na- 
tion was too frightened to raise 


I) a hand to help her, and the task 
Austria had undertaken proved 
1 too great for her. Her army, 
which invaded Bavaria in April, 
1809, was defeated, and Napo- 


Marshal Ney. 


leon again entered Vienna on May 13. The Austrian 
army, advancing on Vienna, drove the French across the 
Danube, but in the battle of Wagram, on June 5 and 6, 
the Austrians, despite their bravery and skillful leader¬ 
ship, were overcome. The war was terminated by the 
Peace of Vienna, and Austria was compelled to give up a 
big slice of her provinces. 

There was one body of people, however, whom no one 
could conquer: they were the Tyrolese, who were peasants 


207 


Napoleon’s Overshadowing Power. 



and mountaineers, led by the innkeeper, Andreas Hofer 
and Haspinger the monk. They revolted early in 1809, 
and by their vigor and energy cleared the Alps of the 
enemy. Their example roused others, and when Napoleon 
returned from Spain he found that the Archduke Charles 
had an army of 300,000 men at 
his disposal. AVith his usual 
swiftness, Napoleon raised a 
force of nearly 200,000 men, 
and was in Bavaria early in 
April,before the Archduke was 
prepared. His forces were scat¬ 
tered, and he lost three battles 
in succession. Hofer,after free¬ 
ing the Tyrol three times, was 
betrayed to his enemies on the 
renewed invasion of French and 
Bavarians, condemned by a 
court-martial at Mantua and 
shot February 20, 1810. His 
body was buried in the cathe- 

, y T i i i General V ictor. 

d.ral at Innspruck; Ins widow 

was pensioned by the Austrian government and his son 
raised to the rank of nobility. 

All these uprisings, although unsuccessful, showed the 
patriotic spirit of the people, and wise men saw in them 
the signs of the downfall of the Corsican, whose terrific 
will overrode every obstacle. The Papal State was added 
to the French empire, and Borne was made an imperial 
city. Holland was incorporated with France on the north, 


208 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


and tlie Hanseatic towns of Hamburg, Bremen and Lu- 
beck were seized in order that Napoleon might enforce the 
continental blockade against England. Then Napoleon, 
because he had no children, divorced his wife Josephine 
and married Maria Louisa, daughter of the Austrian em¬ 
peror. A son was born to them, known as Napoleon II., 
King of Borne, but he became consumptive and died while 
a young man. 

The wonderful conqueror was at the height of power, 
while Germany writhed under his heel. Commerce 
and industry were crippled; freedom of speech and word 
stifled; taxes were extorted, and all Europe was blighted 
by the curse of this one man. 

There was no satisfying the ambition of such a mon¬ 
ster. Nothing less than the conquest of the. world w r ould 
have caused him to stop war. He was continually look¬ 
ing for a pretext, and of course never failed to find it. 
Alexander I. of Bussia, being beyond his reach, could no 
longer be hypnotized. He was offended by several acts of 
Napoleon, and, in 1811, adopted new laws which gave notice 
that he had broken away from the continental blockade. 

It was clear to all nations that a colossal and decisive 
war was coming, and a year was spent in getting ready for 
it. By the opening of 1812 the prodigious plans were 
completed. Prussia, feeling that no misfortune could 
make her condition worse, promised to provide 20,000 
soldiers, Austria 30,000, and the remainder of Germany 
150,000. France raised more than 300,000, and on 
June 24, 1812, Napoleon, crossing the Niemen ( ne'men; 
Polish, nuem'en ), invaded Bussia, defeated the Bus- 



209 

Andreas Hofer Led to Execution. 

Hofer was a man of humble piety who fairly represented the people he 
led. He towered a head above all others, with a black beard that 
reached to his waist. A priest betrayed him to his death. 





210 Young People’s History of Germany. 

sians at Smolensk on August 16 and 17, with frightful 
losses on both sides, and entered a country which the 
people themselves had laid waste that it might not afford 
food to the invaders. Early in September the Russian 
army offered battle on the field of Borodino {-dee'no), 
where was fought the most awful battle of all of Napo¬ 
leon’s wars. When the fighting ceased 80,000 dead and 
wounded lay stretched on the earth, and all to satisfy the 
ambition of one execrable wretch. 

One week later, Napoleon marched into the ancient 
city of Moscow. He found the place deserted; the treas¬ 
ures and movable goods had been taken away, and the fol¬ 
lowing night several fires broke out. It was impossible to 
check them, and at the end of a week nearly the whole 
city was in ashes. Napoleon had taken up his quarters 
in the Kremlin, the old palace of the czars, and was 
compelled to make his escape through the burning 
streets. 

Thus the immense army was caught in the centre of 
Russia, without shelter and provisions, and with the fear¬ 
ful Arctic winter at hand. The horrors of that disastrous 
retreat can never be pictured. The Cossacks hovered on 
the French flanks and continually cut off the men totter¬ 
ing through the snow, where most of them would have 
frozen to death had they been left to themselves. 
Throughout the long, never-ending miles the roads were 
filled with the dead and dying, and when at last Napoleon 
forced his way over the Beresina ( -see-na ) against a 
powerful Russian force, he had only 30,000 left of a dozen 
times that number with which he entered Russia. At 



15— Ellis’ Germany. 


211 


Retreat of the “Grand Armv” from Russia. 

* 

Napoleon, wrapped in furs and under an assumed name, fled to France, leaving the remnant of the Grand 
Army to its fate. Worn out. and wrapped in rags and straw, such as escaped the intense cold and the 
Cossack lances reached the Prussian frontier near the end of 1812. 







212 


Young People’s History of Germany, 

Wilna all that remained were the guards and rear-guard 
of 2,500 Bavarians, which were placed under the com¬ 
mand of Murat, while Napoleon, accompanied by several 
of his generals, made his way through Warsaw and Dres¬ 
den to Paris. 

This appalling calamity started a general uprising in 
Germany. Frederick William III. held back, but was 
soon forced forward, despite his terror of Napoleon, and, 
on February 28, 1813, Prussia entered into a formal 
alliance with Russia against him. Roused to ener¬ 
getic action, Frederick William declared war against 
France, March 16, and the next day issued a proclama¬ 
tion calling upon the nation to rise for their liberty and 
independence. The response was thrilling, for it looked 
as if every man without exception was rushing forward 
to fight, and, if necessary, to die in the sacred cause. 
Professors and students, scholars and peasants, only sons 
gladly given by their parents, lovers sent forth by their 
sweethearts, workmen from the workshops, merchants 
from their offices, with boys hardly old enough to carry 
a musket, clamored for places in the ranks. The women 
sent their gold and jewelry to the treasury and wore 
ornaments of iron, while men sold cattle, horses and 
clothing to provide funds for the government. Hundreds 
of women disguised themselves and sought admission 
into the armies, and some of them succeeded and fought 
with as much bravery as their fathers and brothers. 

It passes comprehension how a nation like France sub¬ 
mitted to the whim of the most colossal murderer of the 
world’s history. He had setTout' for Moscow with nearly 



Arms, food and clothing were wanted for the sacred cause. Those who had no money brought goods, 
rivaling one another in their g.f'ts. Young girls gave tneir hair; brides their wedding rings. 
Women sent husbands, sons and lovers. It was a disgrace to remain behind. 





214 


Young Peoples History of Germany. 

half a million of her sons, and brought back less than one 
for each ten, and now, by hustling old men and boys into 
the ranks, he raised another army of half a million as 
food for gunpowder. 

With all the splendid patriotism of which I have 
spoken, there was discord and holding back among the 
enemies of France. Some of the Confederation abjectly 
clung to her; Austria remained neutral, and the Rus¬ 
sian generals were sluggish and jealous of one another. 
Sweden, however, joined the movement on condition 
that if it proved successful she should be rewarded with 
Norway. 

The Prussians opened the campaign well and gained 
a number of successes, but Napoleon defeated the allies 
in Saxony at Liitzen and Bautzen in May. An armis¬ 
tice was agreed to, Napoleon’s purpose being to win the 
support of Austria. Her position was something like that 
of an umpire between him and the allies, both of whom 
did their utmost to secure her alliance. She proposed 
terms of settlement of the quarrel, but Napoleon rejected 
them, and two days after the end of the armistice, that is, 
on August 12, Austria declared war against France. 

The armies of the allies numbered about 500,000, 
made up of the northern, the Silesian and the Bohemian 
armies, while Napoleon had a force of 440,000 near Dres¬ 
den. The plan of the allies was to unite and fight him 
on the plains of Leipzig, while Napoleon meant, as usual, 
to attack and defeat each army separately before the junc¬ 
tion could be effected. 

It was only two weeks after the conclusion of the 


Napoleons Overshadowing Power. 215 

armistice that Bliiclier, now seventy years old, won a fine 
victory at the stream called the Katzbach, in Silesia, where 
he defeated the French, with a loss on their part of 12,000 
killed and wounded, 18,000 prisoners and 103 cannon. 
In the crisis of the battle Bliiclier shouted, “Forwards! 
forwards !” and because of this he was afterward called 
“Marshal Forwartz” by his men. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON. 1813-1815. 

T HE army of Napoleon was not quite 200,000, and 
that of the allies about 300,000, the lines extend¬ 
ing many miles over the open plain on all sides of 
Leipzig, except to the west. There were three distinct 
battles on October 16, one of which Bliiclier won, while 
the French gained the other two. Under one of Murat’s 
cavalry charges he came within a hair of capturing Fred¬ 
erick William and Alexander I. The day closed without 
decisive result. Napoleon sent proposals of peace, but no 
reply was made, and the allies thus gained a day in which 
to bring up reinforcements. 

The greatest battle ever fought in the United States 
was that of Gettysburg, during the first three days of July, 
1863. In that terrific struggle the earth shook under 



216 


Young People s History of Germany. 

the thunder of more than two hundred cannon, but at 
Leipzig a thousand cannon added their crash and boom 
to the awful uproar, and nearly a dozen villages were on 
fire and mingled their heat and smoke in the throbbing 
air. 

Napoleon, who was watching the battle from an ele¬ 
vation near a windmill, saw both his wings driven back, 
though his centre held its position ; but the most demoral¬ 
izing incident was the desertion of 4,000 Saxons and other 
Germans who passed over from* the French and joined the 
allies. Napoleon gave orders for a retreat, which began 
on the night of the 18th. He had lost nearly half his 
army, while the killed and wounded of the allies num¬ 
bered 50.000. He bad been completely defeated, and 
made haste to leave*Leipzig, which was stormfed by the 
r allies and the King of Saxony taken prisoner. All the 
German fortresses garrisoned by the French fell into 
their hands; the French were driven out of Holland, and 
the Rhenish Confederation was dissolved. Jerome Bona¬ 
parte had returned to Cassel, which was now occupied 
by the Russians, and the Kingdom of Westphalia was 
wiped out of existence. Other banished princes straggled 
back to their countries, and George III. of England re¬ 
sumed the government of Hanover. 

Thus Germany was freed to the Rhine, but she could 
never be safe so long as Napoleon was at large. It was 
decided, therefore, that the war should be pressed until 
he was dethroned. 

On the first day of the year 1814 France was invaded 
by two armies, the Silesian, under command of Blueher, 



Marshal Bliicher Defeats the French on the Katzbach, near Lie°-nitz. 

The battle was named that of the Katzbach, from the position held by the Russian general, Sacken, who supported! 
the Prussians admirably, and was a complete victory for the Army of Silesia. It was fought close by the 
spot where the Mongol invasion had been checked nearly £ix centuries before. 


















218 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

and tlie chief army under Scliwarzenberg. These two 
united on the Plateau of Langres ( laung'r ), and Na¬ 
poleon opened the campaign from Chalons. The first 
collision with Blucher at Brienne was indecisive, but 
several days later Napoleon was defeated by the allies at 
La Bothiere (: rotear ). Then they set out for Paris, but 
the two armies separated, and Napoleon, falling upon 
each, defeated them in turn, but was unable to ward off 
the advance upon Paris. This was accompanied by sev¬ 
eral successes, and he strove to stop the invaders by furious 
assaults in the rear, but failed. The forces sent out from 
Paris to help him were routed and driven back. The 
proud capital was doomed. The empress and her young son 
and Joseph Bonaparte fled from the city, which, seeing all 
hope gone, surrendered. On March 31 Frederick William 
III. and Emperor Alexander rode into Paris at the head 
of their troops. 

Napoleon was in a desperate plight. Despite his un¬ 
paralleled genius, the armies of his enemies were in the 
capital of theempire. Unwilling to yield, he hastened thither 
to attack them, but his own marshals, whose dauntless 
bravery had been tested and proven on too many fields to be 
questioned, told him his course was folly, amounting to mad¬ 
ness, and they refused to aid him. F urthermore, they advised 
that only one thing was left for him to do, and that was to 
abdicate. The bitter cup at last was pressed to his own 
lips and he drank the contents without flinching. On 
April 11, 1814, he renounced all claims to the French 
throne for himself and for his heirs. He was treated 
with more magnanimity than he deserved, for he was 



219 


Flight of Napoleon Through the Streets of Leipzig. 

At the “ Battle of the Nations,” as that of Leipzig is called, France stood alone against Europe in arms. Napoleon, 
brought fairly to bay, fought for three days against tremendous odds,under the walls of the beautiful city. Then 
his allies turned their guns upon him, and with the remnant of his army he tied towards the Rhine. 










220 Young People’s History of Germany. 

allowed to retain his imperial title and received the 
little island of Elba as a sovereign principality. The 
brother of Louis XVI., executed during the Beign of 
Terror, was now restored to the Bourbon throne as Louis 
XVIII., and with him the allies concluded the First Peace 
of Paris on May 30, 1814. 

One of the strangest things attending this act was the 
consideration shown to France, which ought to have been 
stripped of the fruits of her gigantic robberies. She was 
allowed to retain Alsace and Lorraine, and the enormously 
valuable art treasures which Napoleon had stolen from 
other countries. Prussia earnestly protested against this 
great injustice to herself, but she was overruled and had 
to submit to the wrong in the house of her friends, or 
rather of those who pretended to be her friends. Queen 
Maria Louisa received the Duchy of Parma, and the 
other Bortapart.es were allowed to retain the title of prince, 
with an incfeme of half a million dollars. The ex-Em- 
press Josephine was presented with $200,000, but died the 
same year, and no indemnity at all was exacted from 
France. How different from her treatment of the nations 
which she overran and conquered! 

Southern Germany had suffered so much that she was 
benumbed, and meekly accepted the terms of the peace, 
but the indignation was intense in the North. The Ger¬ 
man leaders at the European Congress were weak and 
easily outwitted by the abler ones of other countries. 
Talleyrand, one of the keenest, most brilliant and un¬ 
scrupulous of men, acting for France, actually persuaded 
Austria and England to join his country in an alliance 


221 


Overthrow of Napoleon. 

against Russia and Prussia, and another European war 
would have broken out but for the startling news that 
Napoleon had secretly left Elba and had landed again in 
France. 

At his island home he had 
that was going on, of the quar¬ 
rels in the Congress and the 
dissatisfaction with the Bour¬ 
bon government. He landed 
at Cannes (kan), March X, 

1815, and found that the 
magic of his name Avas still 
all-powerful. “ Who dares to 
shoot at his emperor?” he de¬ 
manded, as he advanced and 
folded his arms in front of 
the forces sent to arrest him. 

Marshal Ney and those who 
had helped him to win so many 
of his wonderful victories pushed 
forward in a transport of enthu¬ 
siasm and almost smothered the 
“ Little Corporal ” in their embraces. Then, with recruits 
flocking to him at every step, he moved toward Paris, 
which he reached on the 20th, after Louis XVIII. had 
fled to Belgium. He was received with the wildest re¬ 
joicing, and instantly set to work to organize a new army, 
offering peace at the same time to all the powers of Europe 
on the basis of the Treaty of Paris. , But no one trusted 
liis professions, for deception had always been one of his 


been kept informed of all 



Talleyrand. 


222 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

chief means of success. Then the Congress stopped quar¬ 
reling and took prompt means of crushing the relent¬ 
less disturber of the peace of Europe. 

Although the magnetic personality of the man enabled 
him to raise an army of nearly half a million, he had to 
use a large portion to quell outbreaks among the popula¬ 
tion, many of whom were wearied with him and his bloody 
ambition. At the head of 120,000 of his best troops, he 
marched toward Belgium in order to attack Wellington 
and Bliiclier before they could unite, that being a favorite 
plan of his, as you have learned in the accounts of his 
former victories. Wellington had about 100,000 men 
under him, mostly Dutch and Germans, while Bliiclier 
was approaching from the east with an army somewhat 
larger. 

While Ney advanced to attack and keep Wellington 
back, Napoleon himself attacked Bliiclier at Ligny on 
June 16. The old warrior defended himself with the 
utmost desperation, but his horse was killed under him, 
and he narrowly escaped being crushed under the hoofs 
of the charging French cavalry. Only with the greatest 
difficulty was lie rescued, when he was compelled to fall 
back. Ney’s attack on Wellington was a furious one, but 
neither side could claim any advantage. Wellington with¬ 
drew to Waterloo the next day so as to be nearer Bliiclier. 
On June 18, 1815, Napoleon gave battle to the army 
which was intrenched on the heights of the village of 
Mont St. Jean, because of which fact the engagement 
is known by that name among the French, while the Ger¬ 
mans refer to it as that of La Belle Alliance, 


4 



“ The Little Corporal.” 

With liis reappearance on the soil of France, all Europe sprang to arms. 













































































224 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

All through that summer day, with the rain pouring 
in torrents, this tremendous battle raged. With all their 
courage and persistency, Wellington’s troops were hardly 
able to hold their own against the repeated and furious 
charges of the French. Wellington saw that he could 
never win the mighty struggle without the help of Blucher, 
and often he looked longingly toward the horizon where 
he expected him to appear, but the minutes went by with¬ 
out bringing the welcome sight. But Blucher was on the 
road and pressing forward as fast as he could through the 
rain and over a marshy country. He had left a few 
corps in his former position to deceive his French adver¬ 
sary, while he strained every nerve to reach his friend, who 
was in sore need of his help. 

It was about four o’clock in the afternoon that Na¬ 
poleon made a supreme effort to break the centre of the 
English line. Despite the splendid bravery with which 
they had stood up to their work, they were beginning to 
weaken and signs of wavering appeared. At this critical 
moment the thrilling shout was heard: “ The Prussians 
are coming! The Prussians are here! ” Billow’s ( boo - 
low) corps struck the French flank with terrific force ; 
Bliicher’s army closed in directly after, and in a few hours 
the French were flying pell-mell from the field. Wel¬ 
lington and Blucher followed with such vigor that within 
ten days the allied armies stood before Paris again, and all 
that remained to Napoleon was to surrender. 

The baffled emperor saw that this was the end. Even 
had he been permitted to go free, his country would not 
have rallied again to his support. Her hundreds of thou- 



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226 Young People s History of Germany. 

sands of dead did not cry in vain from the ground, and 
there were enough shadowed hearthstones in the land 
without any more being added to meet the whim of one 
man, who had no more mercy in his heart than Satan 
himself. 

Napoleon was inclined to make an effort to escape to 
America. His brother, Joseph, proposed that they should 
change places, the elder allowing himself to be captured 
for the younger. There was reason to believe the artifice 
might succeed, for there was a close resemblance between 
the appearance of the two, but Napoleon would not con¬ 
sent, though Joseph afterward spent a number of years 
on an estate near Bordentown, New Jersey. Napoleon 
surrendered to the captain of the Belleroplion , an English 
man-of-war off Bochefort. He was declared a prisoner 
by the Powers, and was sent to the island of St. Helena, 
where he was closely guarded until his death, May 5, 
1821. 

Wellington and Bliiclier entered Paris on July 7; 
Louis XVIII. trotted exultingly after them on the 8th, 
and the allied monarchs brought up the rear of the pro¬ 
cession on the 10th. 

The Second Peace of Paris was concluded on No¬ 
vember 20, but again the cunning of Talleyrand pre¬ 
vented Austria and Prussia from acquiring Lorraine and 
Alsace. The stolen treasures of art, and learning were 
restored to Italy and Germany, an indemnity of $140,- 
000,000 was exacted from France, and she was obliged to 
maintain an army of 150,000 soldiers of the allies in a 
number of fortresses for five years. 



u 

16— Ellis’ Germany. 




Charge of Roussel’s Cuirassiers at the Battle of Waterloo. 

With flashing sabres uplifted and plumes streaming in the wind, the glittering cuirassiers came suddenly upon a half- 
hidden country hi eh way. In some disorder they plunged in, scrambled up on the other side and re-formed, only to 
be overturned and borne back by a superb charge of the British dragoons. 









228 Young People’s History of Germany. 

Owing to tlie cunning malevolence of Talleyrand and 
of Metternich, the Austrian minister, much injury was 
done to Prussia, which, extending now from the Russian 
to the French frontier, was greatly harried by foreign 
foes. There was continual disputation over the form 
Germany was to assume. A considerable number wished 
to have an imperial empire established, but Austria and 
Prussia by previous treaties had agreed that it should not 
be renewed. 

When the draft of a constitution, drawn up by the 
Prussian minister, was submitted it was strongly opposed 
by Metternich and the Middle States, while a second draft 
had to be changed a good deal before it was accepted. 
On June 8, 1815, the Acts of the German Confederacy 
were signed, thirty-nine States taking part in the same 
for the maintenance of the internal and external safety 
of Germany and the independence of the different States. 

The Act of Union assured equal rights to all the 
States, independent sovereignty, the peaceful settlement of 
all disputes among them, and representation in a General 
Diet to be held at Frankfort, under the presidency of 
Austria. Together the States were to support a perma¬ 
nent army of 300,000 men for the common defence. All 
religions were made equal in the eyes of the law, the 
right of emigration was allowed to the people, the free 
navigation of the Rhine w r as secured, and the freedom of 
the press established. 

In substance this act secured the supremacy of Aus¬ 
tria, and simply united the German States in mutual de¬ 
fence against a common foe. The cunning hand of Met¬ 
ternich showed all the way through. 



After the battle of Waterloo Napoleon fled to Paris, be'ng the first man to bring the tidings of his own ruin to his 
capital. r hhe allies closed in on Paris, and soon the Emperors of Prussia and Austria and the King of Prussia met 
there and saw Louis XVIII. replaced on the French throne. 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































CHAPTER XVII. 

THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION. 1816-1866. 

I HAVE referred more than once to the bewildering 
history of the German Empire. In no European 
country were there so many changes of boundary 
lines and forms of government, and it is a hard task for 
any one to follow the labyrinth through the last hundred 
years, to say nothing of the confusion that preceded that 
period. 

But we will do our best to make it clear, for it is worth 
while to do so. 

Let us recall a few facts. The Emperor of Austria 
laid down the crown of Germany in 1806, and the country 
was cuffed, kicked and tossed about throughout the wars 
with Napoleon. He was crushed at Waterloo, and the 
different representatives of the topsy-turvy nations came 
together and made a new map of Europe. The changes 
were many, but we have to do only with those of Germany 
and the countries directly affecting her. 

The new “ German Confederation ” was composed of 
39 sovereign States, including the “ free cities ” (which 
were just as independent as the States themselves), 
namely, Liibeck, Bremen, Hamburg and Frankfurt-on- 
the-Main. 

The Diet, or governing body, sat at Frankfurt and de¬ 
cided questions common to all the States, while each was 
independent in matters that affected it alone. 

230 


The German Confederation. 231 

The president of the Confederation was the Emperor 
of Austria. 

No State could declare war against any other State, nor 
form any alliance with a foreign power that would be in¬ 
jurious to any one of the States. 

The army of the Confederation was composed of 
troops furnished on the basis of the population of each 
State, was commanded by officers appointed by the Diet, 
and its troops garrisoned the fortresses of Luxemburg, 
Mainz (Mayence) and Landau, which belonged to the 
Confederation. « 

Equal civil and political rights were granted to all 
Christian sects, and constitutional government was to be 
established in every State. 

This new Confederation was composed as follows: 

The Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, Ba- 
va.ria, Saxony, Wurtemberg and Hanover; the Grand- 
Duchies of Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin and Strelitz, Saxe-Weimar and Oldenburg; the 
Electorate of Hesse-Cassel; the Duchies of Brunswick, 
Nassau, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Meiningen and Hildburg- 
hausen, Anhalt-Dessau, Bernburg and Kothen; Denmark 
(because of Holstein); the Netherlands (because of Luxem¬ 
burg) ; the four Free Cities, and eleven small principali¬ 
ties. 

I have already remarked that Austria was the dom¬ 
inant power in the new Confederation, this being due to 
the ability, skill and powers of intrigue of her leading 
statesman, Prince Metternich. 

Now, while matters looked promising for the Confed- 


232 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

eration, there were many clogs to the wheels of progress. 
In the first place, the carrying out of the different pro¬ 
visions was left wholly to the respective rulers of the 
States; the people had no political power, and the “ repre¬ 
sentative government ” which was promised did not carry 
with it the right of voting. Whoever the reigning king 
or duke happened to be, he had the right to appoint the 
legislative body, whose members, you may be sure, were 
his friends. Still further, the Diet was forbidden to adopt 
any new measure or change in any way the form of the 
Confederation except by a unanimous vote. You do not 
need to be reminded how almost impossible it is to secure 
a unanimous vote in any legislative body upon even the 
most unimportant question. 

Referring to the events which followed this great po¬ 
litical change, Bayard Taylor says: “The new German 
Confederation having given the separate States a fresh 
lease of life, after all their convulsions, the rulers set about 
establishing themselves firmly on their repaired thrones. 
Only the most intelligent among them felt that the days 
of despotism, however 4 enlightened,’ were over; others 
avoided the liberal provisions of the Act of Union, abol¬ 
ished many political reforms which had been introduced 
by Napoleon, and oppressed the common people even more 
than his satellites had done. The elector of Hesse-Cassel 
made his soldiers wear powdered queues, as in the last 
century; the King of Wurtemberg court-martialed and 
cashiered the general who had gone over with his troops 
to the German side at the battle of Leipzig; and in Meck¬ 
lenburg the liberated people were declared serfs. Tire in- 


The German Confederation. 


233 


troduction of a legislative assembly was delayed ; in some 
States even wholly disregarded. Baden and Bavaria 
adopted a Constitution in 1818, Wurtemberg and Hesse- 
Darmstadt in 1819; but in Prussia an imperfect form of 
representative government for the provinces was not ar¬ 
ranged until 1823. Austria, meanwhile, had restored 
some ancient privileges of the same kind, of little prac¬ 
tical value, because not adapted to the conditions of the 
age; the people were obliged to be content with them, for 
they received no more.” • 

But discontent was abroad in the land. Those who 
had fought in the late wars were resentful because they 
were not permitted to reap the fruits of their sacrifices. 
The universities of Germany have always been hotbeds 
of political discussions, and they bubbled with excitement. 
Societies were formed with the impelling purpose of bring¬ 
ing about union and freedom. The students gathered in 
groups to listen to and cheer fiery speeches by their mem¬ 
bers, patriotic songs were sung, vast quantities of beer 
drank, and resolutions passed that the rulers looked upon 
as treason, for the young men were outspoken in their 
condemnation of the tyranny under which all suffered. 

In the month of October, 1817, a grand convention 
was held at the castle where Luther hid himself from the 
vengeance of his enemies, and the bold utterances of the 
immense assemblage of students alarmed those who 
favored absolutism. There was special indignation against 
Russia, who, as has long been her custom, had her secret 
agents everywhere. One of these spies was the dramatic 
author Kotzebue, who was assassinated by a student. 


234 Young People’s History of Germany. 

The incident added to the alarm and distrust, although 
the crime was the deed of only a single man. 

In the summer of 1819 a Congress of Ministers was 
held in Carlsbad, while the excitement over the killing 
of Kotzebue was at its height. This body adopted the 
most drastic measures against the revolutionists, as they 
were called. They abolished the freedom of the press, 
forbade the formation of societies among the students, and 
went so far as to appoint committees to hear what the pro¬ 
fessors said in their lectures. Some of the most distin¬ 
guished instructors were turned out of their situations; 
.hundreds of young men were thrown into prison be¬ 
cause of their utterances, and the freedom of Germany 
vanished. 

Tlius the States were torn by two violent and opposing 
factions. There were the rulers and their friends who 
favored absolutism, and the people who demanded liberty 
in its truest sense and would be satisfied with nothing less. 
Through it all the country prospered in a material sense; 
hatreds born of foreign wars gradually died out, and those 
who let politics alone were secure. Nevertheless, the 
political bondage of Germany was a sad and sorrowful 
sight. 

You have learned in your History of France of its 
three days’ revolution in 1830, the result of which was to 
place Louis Philippe on the throne. Germany caught 
the contagion and there were numerous popular uprisings 
in different parts of the country, but Prussia and Aus¬ 
tria were too powerful to be disturbed. The revolution¬ 
ists, however, were successful in Brunswick, where the de- 


The German Confederation. 


235 



tested Duke Charles was turned out of office, while Sax¬ 
ony and Hesse-Cassel were compelled to accept joint 
rulers, and an English 
duke was made Vice¬ 
roy of Hanover. The 
German Diet did its 
utmost to check these 
movements, but failed, 
and in some of the 
smaller States meas¬ 
ures of reform were 
adopted. 

With the increase 
of travel, commerce 
and industry, the 
numerous boundaries, 
with their taxes and 
custom-houses, be¬ 
came an exasperating 
nuisance. In 1828 
Bavaria and Wurtem- 
berg formed a customs 
union, which was im¬ 
itated by Prussia, and, 
in 1836, all Germany 
except Austria united 
in a Tariff Union 
called the Zollverein , which proved of immense advantage 
and strengthened the spirit of union among the people, 
though such result was far from the purpose of the law¬ 
makers. 


Louis Philippe. 






236. Young People’s History of Germany. 

Francis II. of Austria died in March, 1837, and was 
succeeded by his son, Ferdinand I., who was only half¬ 
witted. In June, 1840. Frederick William III. of Prus¬ 
sia died, and his son, Frederick William IV., succeeded 
him. He was bright, genial, and had made himself so 
popular as Crown Prince that everbody was delighted and 
hopeful. 

Matters went on as before in Austria, for Metternich 
was the real government, as he had been for years. A 
few trifling concessions were made in Prussia, but those 
who hoped for a liberal government were bitterly disap¬ 
pointed. The whole aim of Frederick William IV. was 
to strengthen his throne, and he intensified the despotic 
measures of his predecessors. 

The people were sullen, angry and on the edge of revo¬ 
lution. Outbreaks continually occurred, and matters grew 
so threatening that Frederick William IV., in February, 
1847, ordered the formation of a Legislative Assembly to 
quell the growing opposition. He made the mistake of 
other tyrants in having the Assembly composed of repre¬ 
sentatives of the provinces instead of the people , who 
clamored more loudly than before for direct representa¬ 
tion. The indignant king closed the Assembly after a 
short session, having injured his cause more than he had 
helped it. 

Now came the revolution of February, 1848, in Paris, 
which made Louis Philippe and his family fugitives 
from that country. When the news of the proclamation 
of the republic reached Germany, it was like a spark 
dropped into a powder magazine. The people were thrown 


The German Confederation. 


237 


into the wildest excitement, and the air rang with shouts 
for the freedom of the press and of speech, the right of 
suffrage and a constitutional form of government in every 
State. The tumult increased, the first blow being struck 
in Baden, where the inhabitants attacked the troops, and, 
after a furious fight, compelled Metternich to surrender 
his office as minister and scurry out of the country. 

Within the following week, Frederick William IV. 
yielded to the inevitable, but in a fight between the people 
and soldiers a number of the former were slain. The 
king announced that all the demands of the revolutionists 
would be granted, and issued a proclamation in which he 
declared that from that day henceforth Prussia became 
merged in Germany. 

The Diet at Frankfurt had taken the alarm before 
this, and invited the separate States to send delegates to 
that city to draw up a new form for the union of Germany. 
A few days later, a meeting, including many of the most 
eminent citizens, was held at Heidelberg, and an agree¬ 
ment made to hold a Provisional Assembly at Frankfurt, 
as the first step toward the important changes proposed. 
The response was enthusiastic, and, on the last day in 
March, a popular representation of all the German States 
came together. 

The first demand that a republic should be proclaimed 
was rejected, but the principle of the sovereignty of the 
people was adopted, Schleswig and Holstein, which had 
revolted against the rule of Denmark, were declared to be 
a part of Germany, and a committee was appointed to act 
>vith the old Diet in calling a National Parliament, 


238 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

You will admit that the people were making good 
progress, and hopes among them rose higher than ever 
before. The first National Parliament of Germany began 
its sessions in Frankfurt on May 18, 1848. Among 
the six hundred members were some of the ablest minds 
of the country, but the great drawback was their lack 
of political experience. Nearly ever man, too, had his 
pet theory, and no argument could convince him that 
it was not the true and only cure for their political 
miseries. Moreover, they made the natural mistake of 
counting too much on the new enthusiasm of the people 
and the seeming weakness of the governing classes. Those 
who favored a republic were in the minority, and the 
others divided into two parties, one the “ Great-Germans,” 
favoring a union of all the States, while the “ Small-Ger- 
mans ” wished to exclude Austria from such union. The 
arguments were earnest and almost numberless, but before 
adjournment a Provisional Central Government was 
appointed and the Archduke of Austria was elected 
“ Vicar-General of the Empire.” All the States except 
Austria and Prussia accepted this action, and they neither 
accepted nor rejected it, but shrewdly waited until they 
should feel strong enough to crush the whole movement. 

The year 1848 was a stormy one in European history. 
There was a revolt in Schleswig-Holstein early in March, 
in which, with the help of the Prussian army, the Danes 
were driven out. Then England and Russia threatened 
to interfere, and Prussia was compelled to make a truce 
with Denmark. This action was sustained by the Parlia¬ 
ment at Frankfurt, upon which the people were so 


The German Confederation. 


239 


enraged that, in September, barricades were thrown up in 
the streets, and the building where the parliament was in 
session was stormed. Many of the members would have 
been lynched had not the mob been driven back by the 
Prussian and Hessian troops. As it was, two representa¬ 
tives were murdered while trying to escape from the city. 

Such shocking violence always causes a reaction, and 
Prussia and Austria took stern measures to put down the 
revolution. There were outbreaks of the most dangerous 
nature in Austria, and more than once her throne seemed 
to be toppling, but with the help of Russia the uprisings 
were suppressed and the brave struggle of Hungary for 
independence came to naught. 

Italy, too, was swept by the cyclone of revolution, and 
at one time she had virtually gained her independence, 
but in the end Austria again became supreme. Mean¬ 
while, the National Parliament at Frankfurt was wrestling 
with its many trying problems. A strong effort was 
made to bring about German union, but Austria and 
Prussia were too jealous and suspicious of each other to 
give any help. In Austria the poor idiot Emperor 
Ferdinand was persuaded to abdicate at the close of 1848, 
and his nephew, Francis Joseph, a young man, came to 
the throne. In this year, 1901, he is still reigning as 
Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


THE GERMAN confederation ( Concluded ). 1816-1866. 

O N March 28, 1849, the National Parliament elected 
Frederick William IV. “ Hereditary Emperor of 
Germany,” but Austria protested, Bavaria, Wiir- 
temberg, Saxony and Hanover refused assent, and the 
king himself declined the offer. The result was so bitter 
a disappointment that outbreaks occurred, but in the end 
all armed resistance was put down. 

The parliament gradually melted away, most of the 
delegates being recalled by their respective States, until 
the skeleton parliament that was left moved its seat to 
Stuttgart (stoot'gart), where, in June, 1849, the members 
were ordered to go home by the Wiirtemberg Government. 
The uprisings in Baden, the Palatinate and on the Ehine 
were suppressed with vigor, and the Liberals were treated 
with such harshness that many went into exile in America 
or England. 

Prussia struggled hard against the dominating influence 
of Austria, and effected a union with Saxony, Hanover 
and most of the middle and small States, but Austria 
coaxed Saxony and Hanover to her side, while the svmpa- 
thy in South Germany was decidedly Austrian, as was 
the case with Bussia. When the dispute had reached the 
verge of war between Austria and Prussia, Russia was 
appealed to as an arbitrator; and the emperor decided in 
240 


The Germany Confederation ( Concluded ). 241 

favor of Austria. The latter proposed her terms, which, 
after some haggling, were accepted by Prussia, in No- 
vember, 1850. As might have been expected, they were 
humiliating to Prussia. 

In the new Diet, re-established at Frankfurt, in May, 
1857, Austria’s influence was 
all-powerful. It was obstruc¬ 
tive, hindering, and often de¬ 
stroyed good measures; but 
Prussia was highly successful 
in her commercial and cus¬ 
toms policy, though the con¬ 
flict was continuous for years 
with Austria. Gradually the 
other States were won over to 
the side of Prussia on the 
important question of tariffs 
and customs, until in the 
course of time the German 
Zollverein effected commer¬ 
cial treaties with Franee, Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria 
Austria, England and and King of Hungary. 

Italy. 

Prussia held a neutral position in the Crimean war, 
while Austria blundered from the first. She began by 
making a treaty with Turkey, the enemy of Russia, and 
then made an alliance with England and France. By 
occupying the principalities of the Danube, after llieir 
evacuation by Russia, she lost the friendship of that Power 
for a long time. Then, after all her preparations, she did 




242 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

not go to war with Russia, and thus forfeited the respect 
of the nations that had counted upon her aid. 

Frederick William IV. was stricken with apoplexy in 
October, 1857, and his brother, Prince William, acted as 
regent until the death of the king, in 1861. He was 
sixty years old, and showed himself to be honest, shrewd 
and patriotic. The hopes of the German people again 
rose, for he surrounded himself with wise and capable 
advisers. 

In 1859 Sardinia and France agreed upon a war 
against Austria. Strong pressure was brought on Prussia 
to aid, but she refused, as she did the demand of Austria 
that a Prussian army should be placed on the Rhine to 
prevent Louis Napoleon from sending troops into Italy. 
Napoleon III., the “ nephew of his uncle,” proclaimed 
that he meant to free Italy from the Alps to the Adriatic, 
and he made a good beginning, for the Austrians were 
beaten in the two great battles of Magenta, June 4, 1859, 
and Solferino (- ree'-no ), June 24th following. Probably 
Napoleon III. would have kept his promise had he not been 
warned that if he went further Prussia would take up the 
cause of Austria. Consequently, he concluded the Peace 
of Villafranca. Austria gave up Lombardy to the west 
of the Mincio to the King of Sardinia, and, in March, 

1860, Tuscany, Modena, Parma and Romagna ( ro-man 
ya), by a vote of the people, became subject to the King 
of Sardinia. 

Frederick William IV. died without heirs, in January, 

1861, and was succeeded by his brother as King William 
I. He was a thorough soldier, and the first important 


T-lie German Confederation ( Concluded ). 243 

thing he attempted to do was to reorganize and strengthen 
the aimy. This meant a great increase of expense, and 
taxation so burdensome that the Legislative Assembly of 
Prussia refused to grant 
the money needed, the 
opposition coming from 
Austria and the Middle 
States. William I. dis¬ 
missed his liberal min¬ 
istry and appointed 
men who rigidly car¬ 
ried out his plan for 
reorganizing the army 
in defiance of the As¬ 
sembly. In Septem¬ 
ber, 1862, Baron Otto 
von Bismarck-Schoen- 
liausen, who had served 
as Prussian ambassador 
to St. Petersburg and 
Paris, was placed at the 
head of the govern¬ 
ment. He was the 
greatest statesman of 
modern times, and the 
man of all others to 
bring about the unity for which Germany had yearned 
and striven so long. 

Nothing was clearer to Bismarck than that it was im¬ 
possible for either Prussia or Germany to reach the posi- 

17— Ellis' Germany. 



King William I. 


214 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

tion to which all aspired so long as Austria remained the 
dominant power. His plan, therefore, was to oust her 
from that position, and to do it he was willing to make 
himself the most hated of all men among his countrymen, 
content to await the time when every one would join in 
his praises. He was the embodiment of “ blood and 
iron,” as was his expression, but he was more than a 
match for all other diplomats, and his schemes were far- 
reaching and masterful. 

The Prussian Assembly expressed the will of the 
people, and Bismarck paid no attention, but went on . in¬ 
creasing and strengthening the army, for his plan made 
war at no distant day inevitable. Every election added 
to the opposition of the Assembly, and the appropriations 
for the army were refused over and over again, and just 
as often as they were refused the government took the 
money and went ahead. 

Frederick VII. of Denmark died, and King Christian 
IX. ascended the throne in November, 1863. He ac¬ 
cepted a constitution which took Schleswig from Holstein 
and added it to Denmark. Since this violated a former 
treaty, Germany interfered. In December th& Diet de¬ 
cided to take armed possession of the Duchies^ The fol¬ 
lowing month Austria and Prussia sent an army against 
Denmark and were successful. Then England, France 
and Bussia interfered, but the negotiations came to naught, 
hostilities were resumed and Denmark sued for peace. 
The Duchies were given up, not to Germany but to 
Austria and Prussia. Complications followed, and in the 
end it was agreed that Prussia was to govern in Schleswig 
and Austria in Holstein. 


The German Confederation ( Concluded ). 


245 



Germany, having been left out of the deal, was angry 
with both 
Austria 
and Prus¬ 
sia* T li e 
two pow¬ 
ers began 
quarreling 
over the 
future of 
Schleswig- 
Holstein. 

WhileAus- 
tria was 
willing to 
make the 
Prince of 
Augusten- 
burg the 
sovereign, 

Prussia 
would not 
consent un¬ 
less the 
King of 
P r u s s i a 
was given 

the dispos- Prince Otto von Bismarck-Schoenhausen. 

al of the . ■ _ . . rni . , 

land and sea .power of Schleswig and Holstein, 1ms cle- 




246 Young People’s History of Germany. 

mand was opposed by Austria, the German Confederation, 
the Prince of Augustenburg and the Estates of the Duchies, 
as they were termed. The treaty, which was made in August, 
1865, left the question still open as to whether Schleswig- 
Holstein was to become a sovereign State of the Confed¬ 
eration or enter into a closer confederacy with Prussia. 
The correspondence between Austria and Prussia was 
angry, and the former began preparations for war, seeking 
at the same time to form secret alliances with the smaller 
States. Neither Austria nor the German people saw 
how all this was helping the deep-laid plans of Bismarck. 

The count, for that rank had been bestowed upon him, 
foresaw all this years before, and his preparations for it 
were perfect. In April, 1866, Prussia concluded a formal 
alliance with Italy, agreeing to assist that country in re¬ 
gaining Venice, while Austria summoned the German 
Middle States to assist her. Then Bismarck declared the 
Schleswig-Holstein question a purely German one, and 
submitted a new draft of reform to the Diet, in which a 
new Confederation was proposed with Austria excluded, 
and claiming the chief command of the northern army 
for the King of Prussia and that of the southern army for 
the King of Bavaria. 

Prussia having invaded Holstein with her troops, Aus¬ 
tria demanded of the Diet that the military force of the 
other States should be called into the field against Prus¬ 
sia, and the only votes against the measure were those of 
Oldenburg, Mecklenburg and the three free cities in the 
north. The vote was taken June 14, 1866, and Prussia 
instantly accepted it as a declaration of war. Bismarck’s 


The German Confederation (Concluded). 247 

time had come, and he set in motion the machinery which 
he had been constructing with so much care for the past 
three or four years. 

War came so suddenly that people were stunned. 
Here was Prussia with only nineteen millions of inhabi¬ 
tants arrayed against Austria with fifty millions. The 
Prussian Assembly had voted five to one against Bismarck, 
and yet, in the face of all this adverse sentiment and the 
prodigious power of Austria, he had gone to war against 
lier ! Surely lie must have lost his mental poise be¬ 
cause of chagrin and anger over the want of confidence 
in him by his countrymen. 

But Italy kept a large Austrian force employed in that 
quarter, though there was fear that France would take 
the side of Austria. But now came the transformation 
scene. An electric shock seemed to have thrilled every 
member of the Prussian government. Each man sprang 
to his feet, alert, eager and ready for the fray, whose full 
meaning they saw for the first time. 

Note how events swept forward. The declaration of 
war was made on June 14th. The next day Saxony, 
Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Nassau were called upon to 
remain neutral, and were given twelve hours in which to 
make up their minds. The time passing without bring¬ 
ing an answer, a Prussian army took 2 >ossession of Han¬ 
over on the 17th, another entered Cassel on the 19th, and 
a third occupied Leipzig and Dresden on the same day. 
Expecting the Saxons to destroy the railway bridge be¬ 
tween Berlin and Dresden, a temporary one had been pre¬ 
pared and was carried with them by the invaders. 


248 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

In a battle between the Prussians and double their 
number of Hanoverians, fought on June 27, a few miles 
north of Gotha, the Prussians were defeated, but reinforce¬ 
ments soon arrived, and the whole Hanoverian force was 
compelled to surrender. The soldiers were disarmed and 
sent home, while the king flitted to Vienna. 

Saxony being occupied, the 
advance upon Austria was 
begun by the three Prussian 
armies that had taken the field. 
Prince Frederick Charles 
moved in a southeastern direc¬ 
tion from Saxony, the Crown 
Prince Frederick William ad¬ 
vanced from Silesia, and Gen¬ 
eral Herwarth von Bitten field 
took the course of the Elbe, 
the whole force being 260,000 
with about 800 pieces of artil¬ 
lery. The Austrian army 
pushing toward the frontier 
was about equal in numbers and was commanded by Gen¬ 
eral Benedek. 

An Austrian force of 60,000 men was sent forward to 
meet Frederick Charles, but was defeated and compelled 
to fall back on the main army under Benedek. The 
armies of Frederick Charles and Herwarth having 
united at Gitcliin, waited there for the Crown Prince to 
join them. 

The latter had had a hard task. As soon as he crossed 





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250 Young People's History of Germany. 


the frontier he was met by the greater part of Benedek's 
army, and in the engagement of the 27th the Crown 
Prince was defeated. The battle was renewed the next 
day, when he won a brilliant victory. Still advancing, he 
had several other successes, and, on June 30, arrived at 
Koniginhof, near Gitchin. There, on July 2, he was 


joined by King William, Count 
Bismarck, Yon Moltke, the fore¬ 
most strategist of the age, and 
the brilliant General Roon. 
They consulted together, and it 
was decided to meet Benedek, 
who w r as awaiting battle near 
Koniggratz, and to fight him 
with the least possible delay. 



The Austrian army occupied 
a powerful position on a range 
of low hills beyond the small 
river Bistritz, with the village 
of Sadowa as the centre. Fred¬ 
erick Charles' army formed the 


Count Von Moltke 


Prussian centre, and Herwartli’s the right wing. These 
two had to attack and keep all the forces of Benedek en¬ 
gaged until the Crown Prince should arrive from the left 
and assault the Austrian right flank. 

The great battle of Koniggratz, opened at eight 
o’clock on the morning of July 3, and raged with terrific 
fury. Again and again the Prussians charged the Aus¬ 
trian centre, but were beaten back with frightful losses. 
The Crown Prince was straining every nerve to bring up 





The City Hall in “The Golden City of Prague 


























































































































































252 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

liis army, but, as was the case with Bliicher at Waterloo, he 
was delayed by the drenching rain and the boggy ground. 

At two o’clock in the afternoon masses of belching 
smoke on the Austrian right told the thrilling fact that 
the Crown Prince had arrived. All the Prussian reserves 
were brought up and a charge ordered along the whole 
line. The Austrian right and left crumbled under the 
awful shock, the centre broke, and, with the thunder of the 
heavens rivaling that of the cannon of the combatants, the 
Austrian retreat became a headlong flight and panic before 
the pursuit of the victorious Prussians, with the king 
himself at. their head. 

The clouds broke apart, the sun shone forth in all its 
splendor, and the King and Crown Prince met on the battle¬ 
field, and the army’s voice rose in the same thunderous 
anthem of praise which rolled from the throats of Frede¬ 
rick the Great’s veterans after the victory on the plains of 
Leu then. 

Hardly was the battle won when news came that 
Austria had offered Yenetia to France. This pointed to 
an alliance, and the Prussians acted with a marvelous vigor 
that has never been surpassed. Within two weeks they 
were on the Danube, and Vienna fell like ripe fruit into 
their hands. The Bavarians and other allies of Austria 
had been swept aside, and Frankfurt was in the hands of 
the Prussians, who with their newly-invented needle gun 
were resistless. Austria saw it was useless to continue 
the struggle, and an armistice, including the prelimin¬ 
aries of peace, was concluded on July 27. Thus ended 
the Seven Weeks’ War, one of the most remarkable in all 


The German Confederation ( Concluded ). 253 

history. The treaty of peace was signed at Prague on 
August 23. Austria, which had so long held her posi¬ 
tion at the front, now made her bow and walked to the 
rear of the stage, while Prussia with another bow came to 
the front, a position which she had fairly earned by as 
magnificent work as was ever done by soldier or statesman. 

The annexation of Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, 
Schleswig-Holstein and the city of Frankfurt added about 
5,000,000 to the population of Prussia. The new Confeder¬ 
ation was called the “ North-German Union,” and being 
submitted to the other States was accepted by all, Feb¬ 
ruary 9, 1867. The parliament elected by the people 
met in Berlin, and the articles of union were adopted 
April 16th, when the Power began its existence. 

It was composed of all the German States except 
Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden, numbering twenty-two, 
with a population of 30,000,000, the King of Prussia 
president of all, and with Bismarck the Chancellor. 
Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden entered into a secret 
offensive and defensive alliance with Prussia, and, as will be 
seen, they soon became a part of the union itself. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


NORTH GERMAN UNION. 1867-1871. 

F RANCE was intensely jealous of the growing power 
of Germany. Less than two generations before the 
great Napoleon had trampled those plains under¬ 
foot, until it seemed that every spark of real life was 
crushed out of the people. Now, when a nephew of the 
conqueror of conquerors was on the throne, they had not 
only dared to raise their heads, but had become a rival 
Power, whose threatening strength had been demonstrated 
in one of the most wonderful of all wars with Austria, 
itself one of the great Powers of Europe. This could 
not be permitted; a pretext must be found for a rupture 
with Prussia, that she might be crushed again. That pre¬ 
text was sure to present itself before long, and Napo¬ 
leon III. began his preparations. 

And so did Prussia, for the wise Bismarck and Yon 
Moltke saw with the clearness of the noonday sun that 
the struggle for supremacy with France was an absolute 
certainty of the near future ; but the German was wiser 
than the Frenchman, for while France remained the 
centre of fashion, flippancy, and was corrupt to the core, 
sturdy Germany wrought with might and main, develop¬ 
ing her resources, disciplining and strengthening her 
armed forces, and making herself intimately familiar with 
the resources of her rival. German teachers were dis- 
254 


North German Union. 


255 


tributed throughout France, who, while instructing the 
youth, carefully gathered all the information within reach. 
Keen-eyed spies were everywhere, engaged on the same 
business, and in the War Office at Berlin, Yon Moltke, 
the head of military affairs, had perfect maps of every square 
mile of the French empire. The width and depth of 
every stream were known ; the location of every bridge and 
its dimensions and strength; 
the features of the country; 
the exact number of men in 
each branch of the service; 
the guns; the personal char¬ 
acteristics of every officer; 
the railway lines and common 
roads; in short, the informa¬ 
tion was as minute, correct and 
unerring as that possessed 
by the French authorities 
themselves; perhaps it would 
not be wrong to say it was 
more so. 

In the spring of 1867, 

Napoleon III. offered to buy Luxemburg from Hol¬ 
land, and nearly succeeded in doing so, when Bis¬ 
marck made so vigorous a protest that the matter was 
dropped. A conference of European powers, held in 
London, decided that Luxemburg should remain with 
Holland, its neutrality guaranteed, but that Prussia 
should withdraw her garrison and the fortress should be 
razed. This settlement of the dispute pleased neither 



Napoleon III. 



256 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


Prussia nor France, but the latter was angrier than the 
former and eagerly looked elsewhere for an excuse for war. 

Napoleon III. now sent Count Benedetti as ambassador 
to Berlin with a proposal for a new treaty of offence and 
defence. He asked that Prussia should help France to 
obtain Luxemburg and to annex Belgium, as payment for 
which Napoleon promised to recognize Prussia’s annexa¬ 
tions of 1866, and not to oppose the admission of the South 
German States into the North German Confederation. 
This offer was repeated in 1870. Bismarck gave no 
definite answer, but he and Von Moltke and the Prussian 
authorities strove harder than ever to make ready for the 
war that was very near. 

France would have been blind had she remained 
ignorant of what was going on in Prussia. She knew of 
the war preparations on foot, and busied herself at the 
same grim business. The cause of her hesitation in 
assisting Austria a short time before was the defective 
state of her army, which was now newly organized and 
the terrible Chassepot gun and the Mitralleuse were intro¬ 
duced. Just as his minister of war informed Napoleon 
that his plan of campaign was complete, he died, and 
another had to take his place. 

Meanwhile, the French people could hardly be re¬ 
strained. They were so eager to fly at the throats of the 
Germans that they could not be held back much longer. 
The Empress Eugenie and the gay butterflies of fashion 
by whom she was surrounded, dearly wanted a war with 
those coarse German barbarians, and it is said that when 
it did come she clapped her gloved hands and danced 


North German Union. 


257 


with delight, exclaiming: “ This is my war ! ” All, if she 
had been given the power to look a few months ahead, 
how she would have recoiled in horror! 

Poor, decrepit Spain was turned topsy-turvy about 
this time by a revolution, and her vicious Queen Isabella 



Mitraileuse. 


was hustled over the border, which being the case, she 
looked around for a ruler to take her place. She hit upon 
Prince Leopold of Plolienzollern, a distant relative of 
William I. of Prussia, and offered him the throne. 

Ah, how delighted that made Napoleon III.! It was 
the very pretext he wanted ! It would never do to have 
a remote relation of the Prussian king on the throne of 






258 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

Spain, even though he was connected by marriage with 
the Bonaparte family. 

Benedetti, the French ambassador in Berlin, was directed 
to demand of King William that he should forbid Prince 
Leopold to accept the offer. The king replied that he 
had nothing to do with the matter. Within less than a 
week Prince Leopold declined the proposal. 

But this wouldn’t do, although it would have satisfied 
any man with the slightest sense of justice. France must 
have that excuse for which she was hungering. So a 
despatch was sent to Benedetti to demand of King William 
that never in the future would he permit Leopold to be a 
candidate for the Spanish throne. Moreover, the count 
was instructed to be rude of manner when he made this 
demand. Benedetti did as ordered. Going to Ems, 
where the king was taking baths, he walked up to him on 
the public promenade and roughly insisted that he should 
give a guarantee that no member of the house of Hohen- 
zollern should ever accept the Spanish throne. The in¬ 
sulted king turned on liis heel, and soon afterward the 
French ambassador was notified that he would not be 
allowed to enter the palace. 

Now, Bismarck was just as much of an adept at 
trickery as Count Benedetti, and he “ doctored ” the tele¬ 
grams, so as to inflame the resentment of his people. He 
wanted war as much as France, and, what was more, was 
ready for it. The insult to the king was made on the 
13th of July, 1870; he returned to Berlin two days 
later, and on the 19tli France formally declared war 
against Prussia. To use common language, it may be 


North German Union. 


259 



said that Von Moltke was simply waiting, and, receiving 
word, now touched the button that put the Prussian armies 
in motion. 

There were no 
alliances on either 
side: it was Ger¬ 
many alone against 
France alone and 
God help the right! 

It is singular 
that in all the plans 
of Napoleon III. he 
counted upon help 
from the South Ger¬ 
man States, and yet 
they were among 
the most enthusi¬ 
astic who rallied 
to the defence of 
the Fatherland. 

The war spirit was 
equally ardent in 
the two countries, 
and France was 
never more confi¬ 
dent of triumphant Prussian Artilleryman. 

success. All Europe 

supposed that her armies would make an immediate advance 
to the Rhine. Napoleon III., as I have said, counted upon 
revolts in Southern Germany, and also in Hesse and Han- 


18 — Ellis' Germany. 











260 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

over, and upon an alliance with Austria and Italy, but it 
has been shown that the German people rose as one man, 
resolved to die, if necessary, in order to keep their soil 
from being profaned by the foot of their olden time 
enemies. 

Yon Moltke’s plan was to attack the main French 
army wherever found, and to shut off its communication 
with Paris. Eleven days after the declaration of war, 
Germany had her three armies, numbering 450,000 men, 
in motion, while she held 112,000 in reserve. France 
was able to muster only 310,000, all told, and had not yet 
crossed the frontier. 

General Steinmetz in the north had 61,000 troops, 
Prince Frederick Charles in the centre had 206,000 and 
the Crown Prince Frederick William on the south had 
180,000, the whole stretching from Treves to Landau, 
thus assuring the safety of the Rhine. On the same day 
(August 2d), Napoleon III., with his young son, the Prince 
Imperial, in company with General Frossard ( fro-sahr), 
with 25,000 men, witnessed the attack upon the small 
unfortified town of Saarbruck, which had less than 2,000 
defenders. Of course it fell, and, the news being tele¬ 
graphed to Paris, threw the city into a spasm of rejoicing. 
The emperor informed the empress that their son Louis 
had received his “ baptism of fire,” and stood it like a 
little man. This was the one touch of comedy in the 
midst of grim tragedy. 

King William, accompanied by Yon Moltke, Bismarck 
and Boon, went to Mayence to take chief command, while 
Napoleon III. placed liis army in position between Metz, 


North German Union. 


261 


Strasburg and Chalons. The first move was made by the 
Crown Prince, who entered Lower Alsace, stormed the 
town, of Weissenburg on the 4th of August and routed a 
division belonging to MacMahon’s army. The latter gen¬ 
eral brought his whole force together and took a strong 
position near the village of Worth, where lie was attacked 
on the 6th. The battle was a furious one, with heavy 
losses on both sides, but the 
French were defeated, and at 
night fled in a panic, thus leav¬ 
ing almost all of Alsace open to 
the Germans. On the same day, 

Steinmetz stormed the heights 
of Spicheren ( spe-sheon) and 
won a brilliant victory, followed 
by an immediate advance across 
the frontier and the capture 
of an immense amount of sup¬ 
plies. 

Napoleon had taken posi¬ 
tion at Metz. Paris was so 
enraged by the news of the decisive defeats that the 
ministry was overthrown, and Marshal Bazaine was placed 
in chief command. Seeking to unite his forces, after some 
indecision, with those of MacMahon, he left a garrison at 
Metz, and retired to Chalons, where he hoped to engage 
the Germans in a decisive battle; but the French general 
was completely outmanoeuvred by Von Moltke, who 
delayed the march of the enemy by an attack August 
14, and then at Colombey-Nouilly, and on the 16th at 






262 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


Vionille, or Mars-la-Tour; on the 18th, the tremendous 
battle of Gravelotte was fought. On the day named the 
Germans had 200,000 men together, though in the pre¬ 
vious fighting they were much weaker in numbers, and 
Bazaine commanded 180,000, with the advantage of a 
much stronger position. 

The battle opened in the morning and lasted until 


stopped by darkness. The 
French fought with splendid 
bravery, repelling numerous 
assaults, but after a time the 



^ right wing yielded, the centre 


and left holding out until the 
close of the struggle. The vic¬ 
tory was a costly one, but Ba- 
zaine’s retreat was cut off, and 
he was forced to take shelter 
behind the fortifications of Metz, 
which was immediately besieged 
by Prince Frederick Charles with 


Prince Frederick Charles. 


200,000 men. The remainder of the army moved on to 
attack MacMahon and Trocliu ( trau-shu ) at Chalons. 
With the latter were Napoleon and his son. 

MacMahon had an army of 125,000 in the camp of 
Chalons, and was prepared to dispute the German advance 
upon Paris, but the Minister of War ordered him to make 
a rapid march up the Meuse to the relief of Bazaine at 
Metz. He had hardly started when Yon Moltke read his 
purpose and determined to prevent the junction and drive 
back MacMahon to the Belgium frontier. 



263 


Charge of the German Uhlans at' the Battle of Mars-le-Tour. 

During the battle of Mars-le-Tour 38,000 marvelously disciplined Germans held Bazaine’s 150,000 Frenchmen at 
bay until reinforcements arrived. Thousands fell, but other thousands swarmed over them. Whole regi¬ 
ments were sacrificed in the tremendous struggle, but eventually the day was won by the Germans. 









































































































































































































































264 Young People’s History of Germany. 

MacMalion moved rapidly, but liis line was the longer, 
and in the race lie was outrun, the extreme right wing of 
the German army overtaking him August 28 at Stenay 
on the Meuse. While he was held in check, fresh forces 
were hurried against him, and on the last day of August 
he was defeated, at Beaumont by the Crown Prince of 
Saxony. Other divisions were 
pushed forward until the road 
to Paris was cut off, and nothing 
was left for MacMalion but to 
bring his army together and 
withdraw into the small fortified 
city of Sedan. 

MacMalion had 112,000 men, 
while the besieging forces num¬ 
bered 200,000. They planted 
their batteries on the heights 
surrounding Sedan, and poured 
in an awful artillery fire, to 
which the defenders were unable 
to make effective reply. Their 
only chance was to break through the investing lines at 
some point, and MacMalion made the desperate attempt 
on September 1. 

The battle opened at daybreak, but MacMalion was 
soon badly wounded, and the command was turned over 
to General Ducrot ( doo-crow') y and some time later to 
the older officer, General Wimpffen, who was ignorant of 
the ground and plan of operations. The French infantry 
melted like snow in the sun before the Prussian artillery 



Marshal MacMalion. 




Charge of the Frencli Cuirassiers at the Battle of Gravelotte. 

The French fought the battle of Gravelotte with a valor worthy of their name, but France lost the greatest of her 
regular armies on that day. Thousands fell in the desperate" fighting on both sides. Gravelotte was the greatest 
battle of the war, but it by no means ended it. 







266 Young People’s History of Germany. 

fire, and the cavalry was cut to pieces by its charges upon 
the German infantry. 

By the middle of the afternoon the French had been 
driven back at every point, and were huddled together 
like a demoralized mob. The terrific fire was still going 
on, when a white flag fluttered through the smoke on the 
walls of Sedan. The firing instantly ceased, and a message 
was brought to King William from Napoleon III.: “Not 
having been able to die at the head of my troops, I lay 
my sword at your Majesty’s feet.” 

Napoleon withdrew to the castle of Bellevue outside 
the city, and early the next day he had an interview with 
Bismarck at the village of Donchery, and made a formal 
surrender to the king in Bellevue. 


CHAPTER XX. 

north german union ( Concluded ). 1867-1871. 

H ISTORY records no such previous astounding sur¬ 
render as that of Sedan. While the battle was 
under way, the Prussians took 25,000 prisoners, 
to whom were now added the remaining 84,000, including 
39 generals, 2,300 officers (10,000 men having escaped to 
Belgium) and 400 cannon. The news startled the whole 
world. All Germany was filled with rejoicing, and the 



267 


North German Union ( Concluded ). 

sons of the fatherland in the remotest corners of the globe 
celebrated the wonderful victory. It was so grand, so 
overwhelming, so glorious that for a time it seemed in¬ 
credible, but it was true, every word of it, and still greater 
victories were at hand. 

Paris was thrown into a delirium of rage. Napoleon 
III. was sent to the Castle of Wilhelmshohe, near Cassel, 
where he received the courteous 
treatment due so distinguished 
a prisoner by the Prussian gov¬ 
ernment. He died at Chisel- 
hurst, England, January 9,1873, 
from the effects of a surgical 
operation. With the aid of 
friends, Empress Eugenie fled 
from Paris, and thus esca]3ed the 
fate of Marie Antoinette. The 
French Chambers declared Na¬ 
poleon III. dethroned (Septem¬ 
ber 4), the Republic was pro¬ 
claimed and a Provisional Gov¬ 
ernment formed with General Trochu as President, Jules 
Favre ( fau-vr ) as Minister of Foreign and Gambetta as 
Minister of Home Affairs. This new government determ¬ 
ined to fight to the bitter end. 

Prussia was ready for this decision, and the armies of 
the two Crown Princes arrived in front of Paris, where, 
by the 19th of September, they had taken up the positions 
assigned them by Yon Moltke. Trochu had 70,000 men 
—what was left of the regular army—and, with the circle 



General Wimpffen. 


268 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

of powerful fortresses, it looked as if the capture of Paris 
was an impossibility, for the besieging forces numbered a 
little more than 100,000, and other French armies were 
sure to hasten to the relief of the city. 

The Third Army, under the Crown Prince of Prus¬ 
sia, was sent to the south of Paris, the First Army, under 
the Crown Prince of Saxony, was to the north, while the 

Second Army, under Prince Fred¬ 
erick Charles, was occupied with 
the siege of Metz. Thus from 
this time forward the history of 
the war became mainly a 
of sieges. 

The headquarters of King 
William and the Crown Prince of 
Prussia were at Versailles, where 
Von Moltke issued his masterly 
orders for the strategic conduct of 
the campaign. On the 19th and 
20th of September, Favre and 
Bismarck held an interview in which the French Minister 
of Foreign Affairs said his country was prepared to pay 
an indemnity, but passionately declared it would never 
surrender a foot of territory. Bismarck replied that there 
could be no peace until France ceded the provinces of Al¬ 
sace and a part of Lorraine with the fortress of Metz to 
Prussia. Thiers (teair), who bad been vainly trying to 
secure the intervention of other governments, repeated 
the same thing to Bismarck some weeks later and Bis¬ 
marck repeated his former reply. 




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270 


Young People’s History of Germany. 


The circle around Paris grew more rigid every day. 
The besiegers were reinforced, and there was need of it. 
Gambetta escaped from the city by means of a balloon, 
and used every effort to relieve Paris. Thousands re¬ 
sponded to his eloquent calls, and a French army ad¬ 
vanced upon Versailles from the Loire, but was de¬ 


feated by General Von der 
Tann, who, on October 11, cap¬ 
tured Orleans. A large num¬ 
ber of French troops moved 
against the besiegers of Paris, 
and General Trochu arranged 
to sally out and help them. A 
French army drove Von dei 
Tann out of Orleans and com¬ 
pelled him to fall back toward 
Versailles, but he soon advanced 
again and received reinforce¬ 
ments, but did not feel strong 



M. Leon Gambetta. 


enough to attack the enemy, who were intrenched in front 
of Orleans. 

Meanwhile, Marshal Bazaine made several attempts to 
break through the besieging lines at Metz, but failed, 
and, on October 28, to escape starvation, he surrend¬ 
ered the town and 3 marshals, 3,000 officers, 173,000 
soldiers, 800 fortress cannon and 500 field artillery! 
This was greater than the victory at Sedan. The Crown 
Prince and Prince Frederick Charles were made field 
marshals, and Von Moltke was raised to the rank of count. 

In 1873 a court-martial condemned and sentenced 



North German Union ( Concluded ). 271 

Bazaine to degradation and death, which sentence was 
remitted to twenty years’ imprisonment. He was con¬ 
veyed to the island of Ste. Marguerite, near Cannes, whence, 
with the help of his wife, he escaped in the summer of 
1874. 

Just a month previous to Bazaine’s submission, Stras- 
burg had surrendered, and with 
the restoration of this old town 
to Germany all Alsace fell into 
her hands. 

The fall of Metz released so 
immense a force that it was di¬ 
vided into two armies, one of 
which turned to the north of 
France under General Man- 
teuffel, while the other, under 
Prince Frederick Charles, hur¬ 
ried to join the troops on the 
Loire. The French force was 
driven from Orleans, which was 
again occupied. Gambetta placed 
one division of the army under General Clianzy and the 
other under Bourbaki. Clianzy suffered several defeats, 
was driven into Brittany, and the Germans occupied Le 
Mans and Alencon (ah-lon-son '). 

General Manteuffd did fine work in the north, where 
his successes enabled him to occupy Amiens (ah-me-an'), 
Bouen ( roo-en ' or roo-on') and Dieppe ( de-ep ). He then 
defeated a force that was advancing to the relief of Paris. 
Other successes followed, so that, despite the heroism of 




272 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

tlie French troops, they had been virtually driven out of 
the north and west of France; but, with a bravery that 
all must admire, the people kept up their desperate efforts 
to relieve Paris. A dangerous force appeared in the east, 
where General Werder, after the capture of Strasburg, 
had advanced as far as Dijon, which he took and defeated 
Garibaldi and his red-sliirted volunteers. He then re¬ 
pulsed another force ad¬ 
vancing upon him from 
Lyon. Meanwhile, a por¬ 
tion of Werder’s army main¬ 
tained the siege of Belfort, 
which made a stubborn re¬ 
sistance. 

Bourbaki was ordered 
to attack Werder’s army, to 
relieve Belfort and to secure 
the lines of communication 
between Y ersailles a n d 
General Clianzy. Germany. AVitli an army 

of 150,000, he advanced 
against Werder’s corps of 40,000, and compelled him 
to leave Dijon and take position south of Belfort. In 
a fierce battle, fought in the middle of January, Werder 
not only held his own, but forced Bourbaki to retire. 
Manteuffel, who was on his way to the help of Werder, 
succeeded by brilliant work in cutting off* the French 
army on three sides and in driving it to the Swiss frontier. 
Bourbaki was so chagrined that he attempted suicide, but 
recovered from his wound. The Germans pressed the 




North German Union. (Concluded). 


273 


French so hard that they were finally pushed over the 
Swiss frontier on the 1st of February. There they were 
instantly “ interned ” by the Swiss. That is to say, all the 
90,000 soldiers were compelled to give up their weapons, 
since they were in neutral territory. They were in a 
pitiful condition, almost frozen and starving. Many must 
have perished but for the kind treatment of the Swiss. 

The prisoners taken by the 
Prussians were numbered by 
armies instead of by hundreds. 

The interning of this last army 
removed the only one that 
seriously threatened the be¬ 
siegers in front of Paris, toward 
whom the attention of the world 
was now directed. 

In the city were 400,000 
troops of defence, though many 
were not to be compared with 
the veterans that had been killed 
or made captive. Again and 
again General Trochu made desperate efforts to break 
through the Prussian lines; but though his men fought 
with the utmost resolution, and thousands lost their lives, 
he failed in every instance. The merciless grip of the 
Prussian bull-dog could not be loosened. 

The condition of the inhabitants daily grew worse. 
It was no special hardship when they were compelled to 
kill their horses for food, since the French have long 
insisted that horseflesh is as clean and wholesome as that 



General Werder. 


274 Young People’s History of Germany. 

of any other animal, and, when you come to think of it, 
are they not right ? Iam sure we should agree with them 
if we had been accustomed to such food, but then we 
should not like to make a beginning. 

Mules are tougher, but, so long as people have them to 
live upon, they cannot expect much sympathy. But, by- 
and-by, dogs, cats and rats had to be eaten, and then all the 

wild animals in the zoological 
gardens went the same way, 
and certainly that was not so 
pleasant for the famishing 
people. Then even those ani¬ 
mals grew scarce, and, if there 
had been any plump little boys 
I am afraid it would not have 
been safe for them to go strol¬ 
ling about the city, for there is 
no knowing wliat might have 
happened. 

General Trochu. Bern ember, too, that it was 

the depth of winter and the 
cold was intense. The shade trees were cut down for 
fuel, and thousands of dollars’ worth of costly furniture 
was broken up to keep warmth in the bodies, and this did 
not go on long when people began to look at one another 
and ask whether it wasn’t time to think of surrender. 

The French had proven their bravery too many times 
for any one to doubt it, and so long as there was any 
reason to hope they would hope. But when the divisions 
of the army which rushed out to attack the Prussians 



North German Union ( Concluded ) 275 

always straggled back, bloody, defeated, and bringing 
hundreds of dead and dying with them, what folly to keep 
up the resistance! There were two millions of people in 
Paris, and it took an enormous amount of food to supply 
them, and that supply was rapidly running out, with no 
possible means of obtaining more. 

In their extremity, the desperate people made several 
attempts to overthrow the provisional government. Then 
Minister Favre on January 23 opened negotiations with 
Bismarck, and the terms of surrender were concluded 
on the 28th. The National Assembly called at Bordeaux 
selected Thiers to join Favre in completing the peace nego¬ 
tiations. The preliminaries were signed February 26, 
accepted by the National Assembly March 1, and ratified 
by King William March 3. Between the last two dates 
a part of Paris was occupied by 30,000 German troops, 
and the king rode into the city at the head of his brilliant 
staff. It must have been a proud hour for the old warrior, 
who could never forget the terrible humiliations which liis 
country suffered at the hands of this nation. 

What a prodigious loss had fallen to France! In the 
seventeen great battles and 150 smaller engagements 
Germany had taken from her more than 10,000 officers, 
385,000 soldiers, twenty-two fortified places, 7,200 cannon 
and 600,000 stands of arms. Not only that, but by the 
terms of the treaty concluded at Frankfurt on the 10th of 
May, she was obliged to give up Alsace, with all its cities 
and fortresses, except Belfort, and all of German Lorraine, 
including Metz and Thionville. The territory thus trans¬ 
ferred contained a million and a half of people, with an 
area of more than 5,000 square miles. 

19—J Ellis’ Germany. 


276 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

Since it is the rule of nations that the conquered 
Power must pay the cost of being defeated, it was further 
agreed that France should give Germany a sum of money 
equal to one billion dollars, and that certain conquered 
districts were to be occupied by German troops until every 
cent was paid. 

This sum is too vast for you to comprehend, but let me 
try to give you an idea of its amount. You have seen a 
double-eagle or twenty-dollar goldpiece. Suppose that 
each such coin is an inch and a half in diameter, and 
enough of them were laid side by side to make up the 
sum named. The length of the line thus formed would be 
more than 500 miles. 

You would think that it took France a good many 
years to pay this indemnity, but she paid it all before it 
was due, that is, in about two years, and the last German 
soldier left the soil of France on September 5, 1873. 
The behavior of the foreign troops had been so good that 
the French repeatedly expressed their gratitude and ad¬ 
miration. 

Now, one result of the war was inevitable. The 
three Southern States of Germany were so united in senti¬ 
ment with the others, that their union with them was 
completed before the end of the war. Bavaria, Wurtem- 
berg and Baden, with the consent of their ruling princes, 
asked to be admitted to the Union. Since King Louis II. 
of Bavaria was the most prominent of the rulers of the 
three States, it was agreed that he should request King 
William to assume the Imperial office, on condition that it 
should be hereditary in his family. The other princes 


277 


North German Union ( Concluded ). 


and the free cities united in the call to the monarch of 
Prussia to become the head of the new German Empire. 

The king accepted at Versailles on January 18, 1871, 
and the North German Union became the new GERMAN 
EMPIRE. In his proclamation to his people the emperor 
concluded with these words : 

“ May God permit us, and our successors to the Im¬ 
perial crown, to give at all times increase to the German 
Empire, not by the conquests of war, but by the goods 
and gifts of peace, in the path of national prosperity, 
freedom and morality ! ” 


CHAPTER XXI. 


NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 1871- 



ND so from the mists and shadows and gloom of 


the dead centuries the GERMAN EMPIRE em¬ 


erged in its full majesty and splendor, and entered 
upon that new career of progress and grandeur which the 
prophets of the past saw like a star on the dim horizon of 
the future. 

On his return to Berlin, Emperor William opened the 
first German Parliament elected by a direct vote of the 
people on March 21, 1871, and to Prince Bismarck 
he awarded the office of Imperial Chancellor, in recogni- 



278 Young People’s History of Germany. 

tion of bis immeasurable services which proved him to be 
the greatest statesman in Europe. It was on the 16th of 
June following, when the emperor made his brilliant entry 
into Berlin, that Yon Moltke was created field marshal. 

Bismarck saw the advantage of a liberal policy, which 
brought to the government the support of the Liberals 
and the Nationals, and thus cleared the way for carrying 
out his important plans. At the same time, he had to 
face a strong opposition, chief of which were the Ultra¬ 
montan es, or Papal party, who recognized the Pope as 
their supreme authority and guide. The Ultramontanes 
formed the Centre party, around which grouped the dis¬ 
contented elements, including the Particularists, who clung 
to their little provincial interests; the Danes from Northern 
Schleswig ; Poles from Eastern Prussia; the Social Demo¬ 
crats, and, after a time, the representatives from Alsace 
and Lorraine. While these factions had widely different 
aims, they often united against the measures of the govern¬ 
ment, and you can understand that on such occasions 
their power was formidable. 

The Boman Catholic Church was powerful in Germany, 
and its supporters were those with whom the battle had to 
be fought for the maintenance of union and freedom. The 
fight opened in the beginning of 1872, when Bismarck 
caused Von Muhler, the reactionary Minister of Culture, 
to resign his office, and asked Adalbert Falk, an energetic 
and broad-minded statesman to succeed him. Falk set to 
work to prepare a series of laws which defined the bound¬ 
aries between the State and Church, and he carried through 
the Prussian Assembly an act which made the schools 



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279 













































































280 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

independent of the Church, and placed their supervision 
with the State. The Pope was so indignant that he 
refused to receive Cardinal Hohenlohe, sent as an am¬ 
bassador to the Vatican, because of his liberal views. 
You have not forgotten the incident told in the previous 
pages, in which King Henry IV. waited barefoot in the 
cold and snow at Canossa for an audience with Pope 
Gregory VII. The rejection of the Prussian ambassador 
caused Bismarck to utter the famous exclamation : “ To 
Canossa we do not go! ” 

The quarrel became bitter, and, in answer to a general 
demand, a law was passed excluding the Order of Jesuits, 
the principal advisers of the Pope, from the empire. 
Before the close of the year the law was carried into effect, 
and all the institutions belonging to the Jesuits were closed. 
In the face of the passionate opposition of the Ultra- 
montanes, the laws defining the distinct provinces of the 
State and Church were passed during the year 1873. The 
Prussian episcopacy openly rebelled ; the Catholic clergy 
closed their doors against the government supervisors and 
showed their insubordination in every way possible. 
Then the government withdrew its appropriations to 
Homan Catholic seminaries and schools, and a number of 
the latter were closed; some of the rebellious prelates 
were fined or imprisoned, and finally declared out of 
office, the endowments of their dioceses being administered 
by lay officials. The following year civil law marriage 
was made obligatory throughout the empire, the act being 
a strong blow against the clergy. This was followed by 
other legislation, in the face of protests by the Pope and 


281 


New German Empire. 

clergy, and there is no saying where the wrangle would 
have ended had not a diversion taken place in 1876. 

All this time the work of reform was going on, and 
the measures meant to cement German unity were well 
supported in the assemblies of the various States, and in 
the Parliament itself. The assemblies had their repre¬ 
sentatives in the national capital, the body being known 
as the Bundesrath, or Council of the Federation. Any 
measure of the Federal government affecting the whole 
empire had to be submitted to the Bundesrath and sanc¬ 
tioned by that body before it could be acted upon by 
Parliament. In September, 1872, the Emperors of Ger¬ 
many, Austria and Russia met in Berlin to renew their 
assurances of distinguished consideration and prove to the 
world how much they loved one another. 

I remember that this famous meeting was the cause of 
one of the best cartoons ever printed by that comic paper, 
the London Punch. It represented three jumping-jacks, 
each with the face of one of the emperors, dancing and 
flinging their arms as a gigantic man behind them jerked 
the string. This man was Bismarck, and the keen satire 
and truth of the jest tickled everybody. 

Bismarck showed his wisdom also by strengthening the 
friendship between the reigning families of Germany and 
Italy, and even succeeded in smoothing the ruffled feelings 
of Denmark over the loss of Schleswig-Holstein. France, 
however, sulked, and was foolish enough to brood over 
schemes of revenge. She began to reorganize and 
strengthen her army, and of course Germany did the 
same, for you may be sure she was too alert to be caught 


282 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

napping. Fortunately, the rising war clouds of 1875 
dissolved without emitting any lightning. 

The treaty made at San Stefano proved unsatisfactory 
to some of the European Powers, notably so to Great 
Britain. A Congress was therefore called at Berlin in 
1878, attended by representatives from Germany, Eng¬ 
land, Bussia, Austria, France, Italy and Turkey, and was 
presided over by Prince Bismarck. At this Congress the 
partial partition and ratification of the boundaries of 
Turkey were decided upon. The result of the Treaty of 
Berlin was the loss of 71,000 square miles of territory by 
Turkey. 

Now, a great deal of money was necessary for Germany 
to carry out her reforms, and the income of the empire 
was insufficient. A higher protective tariff was demanded, 
and, to carry the measures through Parliament, the 
Chancellor had to secure the support of a majority. This 
gave the Centre its chance, and the shrewd Bismarck had 
to make a compromise. A conciliatory policy was adopted 
in matters affecting the Catholic Church, and Falk, finding 
himself powerless, resigned in 1879, and was succeeded 
by a reactionary Minister of Culture. A revision of the 
rigid laws was made in 1882, the rebellious bishops were 
allowed to return, the ecclesiastical institutions were 
reopened, the hungry clergy received their salaries, and 
the Pope agreed that henceforth the appointments of 
ecclesiastics should be duly sent to the German government. 

The Social Democrats made a great deal of trouble, 
and right here let me impress upon you the distinction 
between a Socialist and an Anarchist. To the former 



The Congress of Berlin. 

Mainly through the efforts of England, representatives of the great European Powers assembled in Berlin. The 
largest number of diplomats who ever signed a treaty were present, and the treaty itself, which the distin¬ 
guished body signed on July 13, 1S78, is said to have been the longest ever written. 

























































































































































































































284 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

belong many of the best citizens of tlie empire. Their 
aim is not to tear down and destroy, but rather to build 
up. When the world is filled with so much poverty and 
suffering, with a few favored ones rolling in wealth, to 
which it may be said they have the legal and moral right, 
the Socialists feel that something is wrong in society and 
a change is needed, by which the conditions of all classes 
may, so far as possible, be equalized. How this is to be 
brought about is the momentous problem, which remains 
to be solved ; but since the government controls the post- 
office, the Socialists would have it also take charge of the 
railways, savings banks and other industries, administering 
them for the benefit of all classes. 

The Anarchists do not believe in government at all. 
They would destroy all laws, all rulers, all restraints and 
tear up society by the roots. It is from their ranks that 
the most dangerous foes of any country come. A few 
years ago they committed atrocious crimes in Chicago and 
other places, and a number of the most guilty were hanged, 
but since then they have ceased to vex us. A Socialist 
may be defined as a man who wishes the government to 
do everything; an Anarchist as one who opposes the 
government doing anything. In May and June, 1878, 
the Anarchists made several attempts to take the life of 
Emperor William. The Chancellor, the man of “blood 
and iron',” was not the one to trifle with such miscreants. 
He caused a bill to be drawn up intended to crush them, 
but it was rejected by Parliament, whereupon the Chan¬ 
cellor in the name of the emperor dissolved the body, and 
in the new elections secured enough votes to pass the law, 


285 


New German Empire. 

which was made operative for two years and a half and 
was renewed several times. The fact, however, remains 
that neither the repressive measures of Bismarck, nor the 
conciliatory policy of the young Emperor William II. have 
weakened the Socialists. They are a great power in Ger¬ 
many to-day, still increasing, and of necessity must exert 
a tremendous influence in the 
future life of the empire. 

In 1881 new protective meas¬ 
ures were adopted; spirits were 
taxed; a new duty was put on 
cereals and the customs were in¬ 
creased. Then an important and 
far-reaching scheme was put in 
force, which required years to 
carry to completion. Its design 
was the beneficent one of bettering 
the condition of the laboring peo¬ 
ple, and it consisted of a series 
of insurances for laborers, to help Emperor William I. in 
them ugainst losses from sickness, 

accidents and old age. Such insurances were made com¬ 
pulsory, the expense being divided among the employers, 
the government and the laborers themselves. This was 
one of the wisest measures ever conceived, and the good it 
wrought to Germany is beyond estimate. 

At the same time, the commercial policy of the country 
became strongly protectionist, and in 1884 a new colonial 
policy was set on foot, in order to provide outlets for the 
surplus population and markets for the rapidly increasing 



286 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

manufactures. This led to Germany acquiring extensive 
territories in Western Africa, New Guinea, several islands 
of the South Pacific and in China. 

This whole scheme, however, after sixteen years’ trial, 
has proven a failure. Red tape, militarism and the Ger¬ 
man character killed it. Nature evidently did not intend 
Germany, any more than it intended France, for a colonial 
power. It would seem that the field belongs exclusively 
to Great Britain and the United States. 

Emperor William, who had passed the age of ninety, 
began to fail, and in March, 1888, passed away. His son, 
the Crown Prince, fifty-six years of age, was at San Remo, 
Italy, suffering from a fatal disease,—cancer of the throat,— 
but he started at once for home, and on March 9 began 
his reign of ninety-one days. He died June 15, 1888, 
and was succeeded by his son, William II., born January 
27, 1859. 

There was much misgiving, when the new emperor 
came to the throne, before he was thirty years old. He 
was known to be impulsive, restless, and a soldier through 
and through. No man ever had more versatility or more 
impetuous energy. He seems to be able to turn his hand 
to anything—painting, literary work, dramatic composi¬ 
tion, seamanship, statecraft, war—and to acquit himself 
equally well in all. Sometimes his impulsiveness has led 
him to do unkingly things, but the impulse itself is 
always honorable. He lias set a commendable example 
of domestic virtue, and, although claiming to be the “war 
lord ” of the empire, has steadily and successfully worked 
for peace. There was no sincerer mourner at the bedside of 


287 


New German Empire. 



tlie dying Queen Victoria, in January, 1901, than her royal 
grandson of Germany, and his tribute of filial affection won 
the hearts of all England. What finer tribute can be ren¬ 
dered him than to recall 
the fact that, although 
at this writing he has 
been supreme ruler 
more than thirteen 
years, G e r m any lias 
not been involved in a 
single war nor is there 
seemingly any prospect 
of such a calamity, 
though the air has 
throbbed more than 
once with alarming 
rumors of trouble ? 

With so many oppo¬ 
sing parties to concili¬ 
ate and mould to his 
will, no one could sur¬ 
pass the emperor in 
managing the vast and complicated interests of his em¬ 
pire. 

The genius of William II. for labor and grasp of 
every department of industry throughout his immense do¬ 
main equals that of the great Napoleon himself. His power 
is felt everywhere. He was the prime mover in construct¬ 
ing the Baltic Canal, opened in June, 1895, by which the 
route was shortened for ships from Western Europe to 


William II., Emperor of Germany. 


288 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

the northern ports, and his patriotic magnetism penetrates 
to the remotest corner of his country and to the smallest 
detail of the industries of common life. 

Germany was startled in March, 1890, when it became 
known that Prince Bismarck had sent his resignation to 
the young emperor and that he had accepted it. Many 
saw in it disaster to the empire, but such fear soon van¬ 
ished. Bismarck had done one of the grandest works 
ever accomplished by man, but it was complete. He had 
rounded out his mission, for which his country will always 
be grateful, and the time had come for the reign of new 
ideas, of which William II. was the vigorous exponent 
and the life. There was a great “ shrinkage,” however, 
in the Chancellorship when General Caprivi assumed it. 
He was an honest soldier, and that was all. He tried to 
cultivate the Liberals and to please everybody, but pleased 
nobody, and had to give way to Hohenlohe, who was im¬ 
measurably his superior in every respect, for he is a wise 
old diplomat and statesman. 

The first difference between the emperor and Bis¬ 
marck was over the question of Socialism. The latter 
favored the sternest repressive measures, while the former 
believed in conciliation,—for listening to the complaints of 
the laboring classes and remedying them so far as possible 
by arbitration and wise legislation. This course was 
adopted, but, as I have already stated, without in the least 
diminishing the continually growing strength of Socialism. 

In 1890, through an agreement with England, the 
empire came into possession of the island of Heligoland, 
whose full value can not be shown until the breaking out 



The Emperor William II. of Germany and his Staff. 











290 


Young People’s History of Germany. 

of war. In this arrangement England got about one thou¬ 
sand per cent, the better of the bargain, which, perhaps, 
was to be expected. The Triple Alliance was renewed 
the following year and tended to the promotion of peace 
in Europe. 

Those sturdy Germans live a long time, for when 
Field Marshal Count Moltke died, April 24, 1892, he was 
more than ninety years old and in the full enjoyment of 
his powers. Bismarck passed away at a youthful age, as 
compared with the field marshal and the king, for at his 
death, July 30, 1898, he was only in his seventy-fourth 
year. 

In closing my little history of Germany I will quote 
the words uttered to me in a conversation with one of the 
most distinguished professors of Berlin, and a man whose 
knowledge of his country and its leading statesmen and 
generals is not surpassed by any of his countrymen : 

“ King William I. was an admirable character— 
honest, religious, straightforward and patriotic to the 
core. We all love and revere his memory. He was not 
brilliant, but he was sensible, shrewd, brave, simple in his 
tastes, and wise enough to recognize the ablest men in the 
empire, and to use them as his advisers. 

“ Frederick III., his son, is generally referred to in 
extravagantly complimentary language, and many believe 
he would have made one of the greatest emperors of Ger¬ 
many had his life been spared. There are several causes 
for this feeling toward him : the general sympathy for his 
intense suffering, heroically borne, his superb physical 
appearance and his winning personality ; but, in spite of 


291 


New German Empire. 

all this, it was fortunate for us that he died before he 
fully grasped the reins of government, for he had not the 
first qualification for its tremendous responsibilities and 
demands. 

“ To begin with, he was married to the eldest daughter 
of Queen Victoria, who was thoroughly English at heart, 
and she dominated him in everything. When the Crown 
Prince was in the field against France lie made a good 
record, but every one knows that the real credit of his 
victories belongs to the genuine generals associated with 
him. It was they who furnished the brains, while the 
Crown Prince got all the glory, just as was the case when 
the king commanded the armies and had Von Moltke, 
Von Boon and Bismarck at his elbow. 

“ During that war Bismarck was exasperated more 
than once to find that the matters discussed at the councils 
of war speedily became known to the enemy. This could 
only take place through some member of the conference 
4 leaking.’ It came about in this way: The Crown 
Prince told his wife everything; she lost no time in 
sending the news to England, whence it instantly came back 
to the French leaders. It did not take Bismarck long to 
discover the explanation, and he stopped the leak by ex¬ 
cluding the Crown Prince from the councils. I do not 
say that Frederick had any intention of wronging his 
country; on the contrary, it contained no more devoted 
patriot, but his habit of 4 blabbing,’ as you Americans 
term it, shows his weakness. 

44 His wife’s ambition was to be Empress of Germany. 
The Prussian law will not permit any one to become ruler 

20 — Ellis’ Germany. 


292 Young People’s History of Germany. 

who is physically or mentally stricken, and that fatal 
disease of the Crown Prince would have excluded him had 
it been generally known. It was necessary to prolong his 
life and to conceal his real state, so as to permit his coro¬ 
nation. So the wife dismissed the German physicians, 
whose skill was unsurpassable, and brought over Dr. 
McKenzie, her English expert. He bolstered up the 
Prince and succeeded in concealing his real condition 
until after he was crowned. That made his wife empress, 
satisfied her ambition, and then, when it was too late, the 
German physicians were called in and our new emperor 
died. Had he lived, the real ruler of Germany would 
have been the daughter of the Queen of England. 

“ As for William II.—God bless him ! He is stronger 
this year than he was last year, and he will be stronger 
next year than this. If there ever was such a thing as 
the right man in the right place, his is an example. He 
is a steam engine for work ; I don’t believe there is a 
person in all Germany that equals him in this respect; 
his energy is marvelous and he never spares himself. It 
may be said that all questions interest him, and lie makes 
himself master of each. There is nothing too trifling for 
his attention if it concerns his country in any way, and 
his example more than any argument tends to convert one 
to a belief in the divine right of kings. In him is 
exemplified the genius of common sense; he is not in- 
crusted with prejudice, and boldly meets every condition 
and question that presents itself, his sole aim being to 
solve it in the way best for those concerned and for his 
country. Gifted by nature with the mind and brain of a 


293 


New German Empire. 

master, he does liis own thinking, and does it better than 
any one can do it for him. So long as he is at the helm 
of government, so long is Germany safe, and God grant 
that when in the fulness of time he is called to his reward 
we may be given one as worthy as he to rule.” 





















- 






















































































— 

































































































































. 





















Emperors and Kings of Germany 


Carlovingians. 

A. D. 


771. Charlemagne, or Charles I 
(the Great). 

814. Louis I. (le Debonnaire). 

840. Lothaire I. 

843. Louis II. the German (king). 
855. Louis II. (emperor). 


f Charles II. (the Bald). 

I Carloman, Louis III. (the 
* 1 Saxon). 

(Charles III. the Fat (king). 
8W2. Charles III. (emperor). 

887. Arnold I. (king). 

896. Arnold I. (emperor). 

899. Louis IV. (the Child). 


House of Franconia. 
911. Conrad I. 


House of Saxony. 


919. Henry I. (the Fowler). 
936. Otho I. (the Great King). 
962. Otho I. (emperor). 


973. Otho II. 

983. Otho III. 

1002. Henry II. (the Holy). 


House of Franconia (Restored). 


1024. Conrad II. (the Salique). 
1039. Henry III. (the Black). 
1056. Henry IY. 

1077. Rodolph of Suabia (elected 
the Pope). 


1081. Herman of Luxemburg 
(elected by the Pope). 

b 1037. Conrad. 

1106. Henry V 


House of Saxony. 

1125. Lothaire II. 

(295) 



296 


Emperors and Kings of Germany. 


House of Suabia, or IIohenstauffen. 


1138. Conrad III. 

1152. Frederick I. (Barbarossa). 
1190. Henry YI. 

1197 / Philip. 

Aiy '' 1 Otlio IV. (of Brunswick). 


1208. Otho IV. (alone). 

1215. Frederick II. 

1246. Henry (of Thuringia). 

1247. William of Holland (chosen 

by the Pope). 

1250. Conrad IV. 


Interregnum. 

1254. William of Holland (merely nominal). 
125" / Richard of Cornwall (merely nominal). 
" 0/, \ Alfonso of Castile (merely nominal). 


House of Hapsburg. 

1273. Rudolph (of Hapsburg). 1298. Albert (of Austria). 
1292. Adolphus (of Nassau). 


Houses of Luxemburg and Bavaria. 


1308. Henry VII. (of Luxemburg). 
.014 / Louis V. (of Bavaria). 

* \ Frederick (of Austria). 

{ Charles IV. (of Luxemburg). 
Gunther (Count of Schwarz- 
burg). 


1378. Wenceslaus (of Luxemburg). 
1400. Rupert (Count Palatine). 
Jossus (of Moravia). 
Sigismund (of Luxemburg). 


House of Austria. 


1438. 

Albert II. 

1612. 

Matthias. 

1439. 

Frederick HI. 

1619. 

Ferdinand II. 

1493. 

Maximilian I. 

1637. 

Ferdinand III. 

1519. 

Charles V. 

1658. 

Leopold I. 

1556. 

Ferdinand I. 

1705. 

Joseph I. 

1*64. 

Maximilian II. 

1711. 

Charles VI. 

1576. 

Rudolph II. 

1742. 

Charles VII. (of Bavaria), 


297 


Emperors and Kings of Germany. 


House of Austria (Hapsburg-Lorraine). 


1745. 

Francis I. 

1806. 

Extinction of the German Em 

1765. 

Joseph II. 


pire. 

1790. 

Leopold II. 

1815. 

German Confederation. 

1792. 

Francis II. 

1867. 

North-German Union. 


New German Empire. 

1871. William I. (of Prussia). 1888. { j^ 11 


Population and Area of the German Empire in 1900. 



Population. 

Area. 

Capitals. 

German Empire. 

. .52,279,901 

211,108 

Berlin. 

Prussia . 

. .31,855,123 

134,467 

Berlin. 

• Bavaria. 


29,291 

Munich. 

Saxony.. 

.. 3,500,513 

5,789 

Dresden. 

.Wurtemburg. 

.. 2,035,443 

7,531 

Stuttgart. 

* Baden. 

.. 1,656,817 

5,803 

Karlsruhe. 

* Alsace-Lorraine. 

.. 1,603,987 

5,602 

Strasburg. 

Hesse. 

.. 956,170 

2,965 

Darmstadt. 

' Mecklenburg-Schwerin . 

.. 575,140 

5,137 

Schwerin. 

Hamburg. 

.. 622,530 

158 


•Brunswick. . 

.. 372,580 

1,425 

Brunswick. 

^Oldenburg. . 

.. 341.250 

2,479 

Oldenburg. 

Saxe-Weimar. 

.. 313.668 

1,387 

Weimar. 

. Anhalt. 

.. 247,603 

906 

Dessau. 

Saxe-Meiningen. 

. 214,697 

953 

Meiningen. 

Saxe-Ooburg-Gotha. 

.. 198,717 

760 

Gotha. 

Bremen.. 

180,443 

99 


Saxe-Altenburg. 

.. 161,129 

511 

A1 ten burg. 

-Lippe. 

.. 123,250 

472 

Detmold. 

Reuss (Younger line). 

112.118 

319 

Gera. 

Mecklenburg-Strelitz. 

98,371 

1,131 

Neu Strelitz. 

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. 

83,939 

363 

Rudolstadt. 

Sell warzburg-Sondershausen... 

73.623 

333 

Sondershausen. 

Lubeck. 

76,485 

115 


Waldeck . 

56,565 

433 

Arsolsen. 

Reuss (Elder line). 

53,787 

122 

Greiz. 

Schaumburg-Lippe. 

37,204 

131 

Buckeburg. 

German Africa. 

.. 5,950,000 

822,000 






























298 


Emperors and Kings of Germany. 

The German Government. 

Political Divisions in the Reichstag. 

_ . Number of 

Prtrtles - Members. 

German Conservatives. 54 

Imperialists.:. 23 

National Social Reform Party (Anti-Semites). 9 

Centre (Clericals). 104 

Poles. 14 

National Liberals. 48 

Liberal Union. 12 

Liberal People’s Party . 29 

National People’s Party. 8 

Social Democrats .. 55 

Alsatian (meaning Anti-German) . 8 

Independent (unclassified). 30 


Total (with two vacancies). 396 

The largest group, the Clericals or Centre, represents mainly the Rhine 
districts and South Germany. The Conservatives, though sometimes in 
opposition, especially on agrarian questions, are regarded as the ministerial 
party, and with them are allied the National Liberals and some smaller 
groups, insuring the government a majority. 

















INDEX 


Aboukir, Battle of, 194 
Act of Union, The, 228 
Adelaide, Queen, 64 
Adolphus of Nassau, 90, 91 
Adriatic, The, 16, 242 
Africa, 31, 36, 44 
Age of Reason, The, 186 
Agincourt, Battle of, 106 
Agnes, Queen, 67 
Aix, 18 

Aix-la-Chapelle, 64, 88, 117, 189 

Alani, The, 31 

Alaric, 32, 33 

Albert I., 90-93 

Albert II., 106 

Albigenses, The, 117 

Alemanni, The, 16, 20, 29, 30, 38, 42 

Alencon, 271 

Alessandria, 195 

Alexander I. of Russia, 199, 203, 205, 
206, 215, 218 

Alexander HI. of Russia, 281 
Alps, The, 16, 18, 29, 38, 46, 48, 70, 74, 
132, 193, 195, 242 

Alsace, 148, 153,156,160,189, 220, 226, 
261, 268, 271, 275, 278 
Anspach, 202 
Altenburg, 122 
Alva, Duke of, 132 
Amiens, 271 

Anabaptists, The, 128, 129 

Anarchists, The, 283, 284 

Andalusia, 31 

Anhalt-Dessau, 231 

Anne of England, Queen, 162 

Apulia, 53, 67 

Aragon, 116 


Arnold ofBreschia, 73 
Arnold of Carinthia, 56 
Arnold of Winkelried, 102 
Arminius (see Hermann) 

Asia, 16, 31, 34 
AttMa, 34 

Auerstadt, Battle of, 203 
Augsburg, 120, 144, 196 
Augsburg, Confession of, 131 
Augsburg, Diet of, 133 
Augsburg League, The, 156 
Augustine Monks, The, 129 
Austerlitz, Battle of, 199 
Austria, 93, 123,136,138,153, 154,160, 
175, 179, 180,188-206, 214, 220, 226, 
228, 231-256, 260, 282 
Austria, House of, 104-162, 163, 166 
Avignon, 94 


Bacon, Roger, 106 

Baden, 129, 195,198,199, 231, 233, 237, 
253, 275 

Baltic, The, 142, 143 
Baltic Canal, The, 287 
Bamberg, 144 
Basle, 150 
Basle, Battle of, 108 
Basle, Treaty of, 112, 190 
Bautzen, 214 

Bavaria, 53, 62, 157, 158, 192, 198,199, 
202, 206, 207, 231, 232, 235, 240, 253, 
276 

Bavaria, Dukes of, 130 
Bavaria, House of, 93-103 
Bavreuth, 202 

Bazaine, Marshal, 261, 262, 270, 271 
(299) 




300 


Index 


Beaumont, 264 
Belfort, 272, 275 

Belgium, 29, 38,150,157,162,181,189, 
190, 221, 222, 262, 264 
Belisarius, 36 
Bellerophon, The, 226 
Bellevue, 266 

Benedek, General, 248, 250 
Benedetti, Count, 256, 258 
Beresina, The, 210 
Berg, 202 

Berlin, 168, 169, 178, 203, 247, 253. 255, 
256, 258, 277, 281 
Berlin, Treaty of, 282 
flernadotte, General, 193 
Bern burg, 231 

Bismarck, Prince Otto von, 243, 246, 
247,250, 254, 255, 256, 258, 260, 268, 
275-285, 288, 290, 291 
Bittenfield, Herwath von, 248, 249 
Black Plague, The, 96 
Black Sea, The, 29 
Blenheim, Battle of, 158 
B1 ucher, Marshal, 215, 216, 218, 222, 
224, 226 

Bohemia, 56. 60, 65, 66, 76, 91, 92, 93, 
94, 138, 139, 144, 146, 166, 169 
Bonaparte, Jerome, 205, 216, 220 
Bonaparte, Joseph, 201, 206, 218, 220, 
226 

Bonaparte, Louis, 201, 220 
Bora, Catherine von, 130 
Bordeaux, 275 
Borodino, Battle of, 210 
Boulogne, 198 

Bourbaki, General, 271, 272 
Brabant, 158, 160 
Brandenburg, 130,174 
Brandenburg, Electorate of, 152, 153, 
156 

Breitenfeld, 144 

Bremen, 114, 196, 208, 230, 231 

Brienne, 218 

Britain, 30 

Brittany, 271 


Brunswick, 129, 231, 234 
Brunswick-Bevern, Princess of, 166 
Brunswick, Duke of, 183, 189 
Bulgaria, 31 

Biilow, Frederick William von, 224 
Bundesrath, The, 280 
Burgundians, The, 30 
Burgundy, 34, 65, 76, 123, 130 
Busento, The, 32, 33 


Cjesar, Julius, 18 
Caliph of Damascus, 44, 55 
Calvin, John, 134 
Calvinists, The, 134, 142 
Campo Forrnio, Treaty of, 192,194 
Cannes, 221, 271 
Canossa, 70, 280 
Canute of Denmark, King, 65 
Caprivi, General, 288 
Carloman, 45-48 
Carlovingian Sovereigns, 47-56 
Carlsbad, 234 
Carpathians, The, 29 
Carthage, 31, 36 
Cassel, 20, 216, 247, 267 
Catalaunian Plains, The, 34 
Catherine II. of Russia, 189, 191, 192 
Catholics, The, 70,131,134,140,142,176 
Centre Partv, The, 278 
Chalons, 34,‘ 218, 261, 262 
Champagne, 154 
Chanzy, General, 271 
Charlemagne, or Charles I. (the Great), 
46, 47, 48, 50, 52, 53, 54, 57, 62, 200 
Charles Martel, 40, 44, 45 
Charles II. (the Bald), 55, 56 
Charles III. (the Fat), 56 
Charles IV. (of Luxemburg), 94, 96 
Charles V., Emperor, 116,117,123, 124, 
126, 130, 132, 133 
Charles VI., 162, 163 
Charles VII. of Bavaria, 166 
Charles of Anjou, 80, 82, 88, 90 
Charles the Bold, 108 



Index 


301 


Charles, Archduke of Austria, 192-194 

Charles 11. of France, 107 

Charles of Lorraine, Prince, 169 

Charles II. of Spain, 156 

Charles III. of Spain, 158, 160 

Chassepot, The, 256 

Chatti, The, 16, 20 

Cherusci, The, 16, 27 

Chilperic, 38 

China, 34 

Chiselhurst, 267 

Christian, Prince, 140 

Christianity, Introduction of, 42 

Cimbri, The, 16-18 

Cis-Alpine Republic, The, 192 

Cleves, 202 

Clovis, 38, 39 

Coalition, First, The, 189 

Coalition, Second, The, 192 

Coalition, Third, The, 198 

Coblentz, 50 

Cologne, 74, 114 

Cologne, Archbishops of, 64, 87,157,158 

Cologne, Cathedral of, 114 

Colonibey-Nouilly, 261 

Congress of Ministers, The, 234 

Conrad of Franconia, 57, 58, 61 

Conrad II., 65 

Conrad III , 73, 74, 76 

Conrad IV., 80 

Conradin, 80, 82 

Constance, 98 

Constance, Council <*f, 97 

Constance, Wife of Henry VI., 78, 79 

Constantinople, 31, 97 

Cossacks, The, 210 

Coster, Laurens, 104 

Crusades, The, 74 

Cum a, 37 

Cumberland, Duke of, 169 
Czechs, The, 56 


Dagobert. 40 
Damascus, 74 


Danes, The, 50, 52, 53, 55, 278 
Dantzic, 114 

Danube, The, 20, 27, 28, 30, 198, 206, 
241, 252 

Denmark, 52 60, 65, 76, 140, 153, 196, 
231, 237. 238. 244, 281 
Desaix, General, 195 
Dessau, 142 
Dieppe, 271 
Dijon, 272 
Donar (see Thor) 

Doncherv, 266 
Dresden,* 169, 174, 214, 247 
Drusus, 18 

Drusus Canal, The. 20 
Ducrot, General, 264 


Edict of Restitution, The, 142, 143 

Edict of Tolerance, The, 180 

Eger, 146 

Egypt, 192, 194 

Eisenbach, 128 

Eisleben, 118 

Elba, Island of, 220, 221 

Elbe, The, 20, 29, 53, 203, 248 

Elizabeth of Russia, 175 

Ems, 258 

England, 44, 65, 74, 140, 157, 162,168, 
175,182, 191.192,194, 198, 202, 204, 
238, 241. 244, 282, 288, 290 
Enghien, Duke d’, 198 
Erfurt, 118 

Ernest of Mansfeld, 138 
Estramadura, 133 

Eugene of Savov, Prince, 154, 156, 157, 
158, 160 

Eugenie of France, Empress, 256, 257, 
267 

Eylau, Battle of, 204 


Falk, Adalbert, 278, 282 
Faust, John, 104, 106 
Favre, M. Jules, 267, 268, 275 





302 


Index. 


Fehrbellin, Battle of, 153 
Ferdinand I., Emperor, 126, 133, 134 
Ferdinand II., Emperor, 136, 139,142, 
148 

Ferdinand III., Emperor, 148, 150 
Ferdinand I. of Austria, 129, 236 
Ferdinand V. of Spain, 116 
Feudalism, 84-87 
Flanders, 130, 158, 160 
France, 30, 44, 47, 74, 134, 148, 153, 
154,158,162,166,168, 169, 175, 188, 
189, 190, 192, 194, 196,198,199,200, 
207, 212, 214, 220, 238, 241, 242,244, 

* 247, 252, 254, 255,256, 258, 259, 268, 

272, 286 

France, Republic of, 191 
France, Rise of, 185-200 
France, War Indemnity, 276 
Francis II. of Austria, 181, 188, 199, 
200, 201, 230, 231, 236 
Francis I. of France, 116, 130 
Francis Joseph of Austria, 239, 281 
Franconia, 30, 203 
Franconia, House of, 57, 65-72 
Frankfurt-on-the-Main, 116, 129, 1G6, 
195, 196, 202,228, 230, 231, 237, 238, 
241, 252, 253 

Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, 143 
Frankfurt, Diets of, 230, 231, 235, 237 
Frankfurt, Treaty of, 275 
Franks, The, 30, 38, 39, 40, 45, 46, 58 
Frederick I. (Barbarossa), Emperor, 
76, 78 

Frederick II. (of Suabia), Emperor, 
79, 80 

Frederick III. (of Austria), Emperor, 
106, 107, 108, 110 

Frederick III. (of Prussia), Emperor, 
286, 290, 291, 292 
Frederick III. (the Handsome), 94 
Frederick III. (the Wise), Elector of 
Saxony, 118, 122 

Frederick III. (of Hohenzollern), 90 
Frederick V., Elector of the Palatinate, 
139, 140 


Frederick VII. of Denmark, King, 244 
Frederick of Baden, 82 
Frederick von Biiren, 73 
Frederick 1. of Prussia, King, 152, 
163, 164, 166 

Frederick II, of Prussia (the Great), 
Kim*, 152, 163, 164, 166, 168, 169, 
170, 172, 174,175, 176,178,179,180, 

181, 252 

Frederick William, Elector of Branden¬ 
burg (the Great Elector), 150, 153, 
154 

Frederick William I. of Prussia, King, 
152, 163, 164, 166 

Frederick William II. of Prussia, King, 

182, 183, 184, 185, 188, 190, 192 
Frederick William III. of Prussia, 

King, 192, 202, 203, 205, 212, 215, 
218 

Frederick William IV. of Prussia, 
King, 236, 237, 240, 242 
Frederick William, Crown Prince of 
Prussia (see Frederick III. of Prussia, 
Emperor), 248, 250, 252, 260, 261, 
267, 268, 270 

Frederick Charles of Prussia, Prince, 
248, 260, 262, 267, 268, 270, 271 
Freiburg, 153. 

Friedland, Battle of, 204 
Friesland, 42 
Frossard, General, 260 
Fulda, Monastery of, 50 


Gat/las, 148. 

Gambetta, M. Leon, 267, 268, 271 
Garibaldi, 272 
Gaul, 17, 18, 30, 31, 38 
Geismar, 42 

General Assembly of the People, The, 
26 

Genseric. 31, 36 
Genoa, 193 

George II. of England, King, 166 
George III. of England, King, 216 




Index. 303 


Germanicus, 22 

German Confederation, The, 230-253 
German Empire, The New, 277-293 
German Union, The North, 254-277 
Germany as a Colonial Power, 286 
Germany, Downfall of, 185-200 
Germany, Early History of, 13-23 
Germany, Moulding the Empire of, 
36-46* 

Germany, Warring Nations of, 24-36 

Gesler, 92 

Ghent, 116 

Gibraltar, 162 

Gitchin, 248, 250 

Goddess of Reason, The, 186 

Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine, 66 

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 183 

Golden Bull, The, 94, 113 

Gotha, 44, 248 

Goths, The, 29, 30, 36, 42 

Gravelolte, Battle of, 262 

Grimwold, 40 

Guelph, 73 

Gunpowder, Invention of, 106 
Gunther of Schwartzburg, King, 94 
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, King, 
143, 144, 146 
Gutenberg, John, 104 


Hamburg, 114, 196, 208, 230, 231 
Hanover, 169, 196, 202, 216, 231, 235, 
240, 247, 253, 260 
Hanseatic League, The, 114, 115 
Hapsburg, Horn of, 87-93, 138 
Harlaem, 104 

Hartz Mountains, The, 29, 30, 58 
Haspinger, 207 
Heidelberg, 94, 237 
Heidelberg, Castle of, 156 
Heligoland, 288 
Helvetian Republic, The, 192 
Henrv I., Emperor (the Fowler), 58, 
60,'61, 64 

Henry II., Emperor (the Bavarian), 65 


Henry III., Emperor (son of Conrad 

II. ), 66 

Henry IV., Emperor (son of Henry 

III. ), 67, 68, 70, 280 

Henry V., Emperor (son of Henry IV.), 
72 

Henry VI., Emperor (son of Barba- 
rossa), 78, 79 

Henry VII., Emperor (of Luxemburg), 
93 

Henry of Bavaria (the Proud), 73 
Herder, 183 
Hermann, 21, 22 
Heruli, The, 36 
Hesse, 50, 123, 260 
Hesse-Cassel, 231, 232, 235, 247, 253 
Hesse-Darmstadt, 231, 233 
Hildberghausen, 231 
Hochst, 140 
Hofer, Andreas, 207 
Hohenfriedberg, Battle of, 166 
Hohenlinden, Battle of, 196 
Hohenlohe, 280, 288 
Hohenstanffen, House of, 73-87, 200 
Holland, 91, 139, 140, 148, 149, 152, 
153, 182, 189, 190, 196, 199, 201, 207, 
255 

Holstein, 29, 142, 231, 237, 244, 245, 
246 

Huguenots, The, 134 
Hungary, 31, 33, 34, 53, 56, 76, 134, 
142, 154, 189, 229 
Huns, The, 31, 33, 34, 36 
Huss, John, 98, 118, 120 
Hunsite War, The, 100 


India, 53 

Indulgences, Sale of, 119, 

Innspruck, 207 
Inquisition, The, 134 
Interdicts, The, 68, 70 
Interregnum, The Great, 83 
Isabella of Spain, Queen (wife of 
Ferdinand V.), 116 




304 


Index. 


Isabella IT. of Spain, Queen, 257 
Italy, 18, 21, 30, 31, 32, 34, 38, 44, 48, 
63, 64, 65, 67, 70, 93, 130, 157, 160, 
193, 195, 196, 199, 201, 226, 239, 
241. 242, 247, 260, 281, 282 


James I. of England, King, 139 

James II. of England, King, 160 

Jena, Battle of, 203 

Jena, University of, 185 

Jerome of Prague, 118 

Jerusalem, 74 

Jesuits, The, 140, 280 

Joanna, Empress, 116 

John, Archduke of Austria, 194 

John of Luxemburg, 94 

John of Suabia, 92 

Joseph I., Emperor, 158 

Joseph II., Emperor, 179, 180 

Josephine of France, Empress, 220 

Jossus of Moravia, 97 

Jourdan, General, 193 

Juiich, 201 

Jutland, 16 


Kaiserslautern, Battle of, 190 
Katzbach, The, 215 
Kollin, Battle of, 169 
Konighof, 250 

Koniggratz, Battle of, 250, 252 
Kothen, 231 
Kotzebue, 233, 234 
Kremlin, The, 21 
Kunersdorf, Battle of, 174 
Kyffhaiiser Mountain, The, 78 


La Belle Alliance (see Waterloo) 

Landau, 231, 260 

Langres, 218 

La Rothiere, 218 

Lausanne, 88 

League of Princes, The, 180 


Legnano, 76 

Leipzig, 144, 146, 214, 215, 247 
Leipzig, Battle of, 215, 216. 232 
Le Mans, 271 
Leopold L, Emperor, 150 
Leopold II., Emperor, 181, 182, 188 
Leopold I , Duke of Austria, 79 
Leopold 111., Duke of Austria, 102 
Leopold of Hohenzollern, Prince, 257, 
258 

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim V , 182 
Leuthen, Battle of, 172, 252 
Liberals, The, 278 
Liege, 72 

Ligny, Battle of, 222 
Linz, 110 

Lissa, Palace of, 172 
Loire, The, 38, 270, 271 
Lombardy, 76, 93, 192, 242 
Lombardy, Dukes of, 62 
Lombardy, Iron Crown of, 62, 65 
Longobards, The, 16, 38, 48 
Lorraine, 108, 229, 226, 2G, 275, 278 
Lothaire L, Emperor, 54, 55 
Lothaire II., King (the Saxon), 72 
Louis I., Emperoi Ghe Pious), 54, 55 
Louis II., King (the German), 54-56 
Louis II. (Emperor), 55, 57 
Louis IV., King (the Child), 57 
Louis V., Emperor (the Bavarian), 94 
Louis II of Bavaria, King, 276 
Louis VII. of France, King, 74 
Louis IX. of France, King, 80 
Louis XIV , of France, King, 150, 152, 
154, 156, 157,160 

Louis XVI. of France, King, 189, 220 
Louis XVIII. of France, King, 220, 
221 , 226 

Louis Philippe of France, King, 234, 
236 

Louisa, Queen (wife of Frederick 
William III.), 205 
Losowitz, Battle of, 169 
Liibeck, 114, 196, 208, 230, 231 
Lucerne, Lake, 92 







Index. 


305 


Ludwig of Baden, 157 
Luneville, Treaty of, 196 
Luther, Martin, 116-132, 233 
Lutherans, The, 134 
Liitzen, 214 

Luxemburg, 154, 230, 231, 255 
Luxemburg, House of, 93-103 


MacMahon, General, 216, 262, 264 
Magdeburg, 129, 132, 143, 144, 153 
Magenta, Battle of, 242 
Magyars, The, 56, 58, 60 
Main, The, 190 
Malplaquet, Battle of, 160 
Manteuffel, General, 271 
Mantua, 192, 207 
Marchfield, 90 
Marcus Aurelius, 27 
Marengo, Battle of, 195 
Maria Antoinette, Queen of France, 
189 

Maria Louisa, Empress of France, 208, 

220 

Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, 
163, 166, 168, 179, 180 
Marius, 17, 18 

Marlborough, Duchess of, 162 
Marlborough, Duke of, 157, 158, 160 
Marne, The, 34 
Mars-1 e-Tour, 262 
Massena, 191 

Matthias Emperor, 134, 136, 139 
Matthias of Thurn, 138 
Maurice of Saxony, 132, 133 
Maximilian I., Emperor, 108, 110-113, 
116, 122 

Maximilian II., Emperor, 134 
Mayence (Mainz), 20, 30, 189, 231, 260 
Mecklenburg, 246 
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 231 
Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 231, 232 
Mediterranean, The, 46 
Melac, General, 156 
Melancthon, Philip, 122, 128, 131 


Memel, The, 204 
Mentz, 64, 104 
Meroveus, 38 

Merovingian Dynasty, The, 38-40 
Merseburg, 60 

Metternich, Prince, 228, 231, 236, 237 

Metz, 260, 261, 262, 268, 270, 271, 275 

Meuse, The, 262, 264 

Migration of Nations, The, 30 

Milan, 62, 93, 94, 157, 160, 162 

Militz, Carl von, 122, 123 

Mincio, The, 242 

Mitralleuse, The, 256 

Modemr, 242 

Mohammed, 44 

Mollwitz, Battle of, 166 

Mont St. Jean (see Waterloo) 

Moors, The, 50 

Moravia, 138, 139 

Moreau, General, 191, 195, 196 

Morgarten, Battle of, 93 

Moscow, 210, 212 

Munich, 144 

Munster, Treatv of, 148 

Murat, General, 202, 206, 212, 215 


Nafels, Battle of, 102 
Naples, 80, 90, 123, 157, 160, 162, 189, 
192, 201 

Napoleon I , 96, 185, 186, 191-226, 
230, 232, 254 

Napoleon I., Overshadowing Power of, 
200-215 

Napoleon I., Overthrow of, 215-229 
Napoleon II. (King of Rome), 208 
Napoleon III , 242, 254-260, 264, 266, 
267 

Napoleon, Louis (Prince Imperial), 
260 

Narses, 36 
Nassau, 247, 253 

National Parliament, The, 237-240 
Naumburg, Siege of, 100 
Neerwinden, Battle of, 190 



300 


Index. 


Nelson, Lord, 194 

Netherlands, The, 112, 123, 134, 158, 
160, 231 

Ney, Marshal, 204, 221, 222 
Nice, 193 
Niemen, The, 208 
Nissa, Battle of, 100 
Nordl ingen, 148 
Noreia, Battle of, 16 
Normans, The, 56, 66 
North Sea, The, 29, 30 
Norway, 214 

Nuremburg, 129,144, 196 


Oder, The, 30 
Odin (see Woden) 

Odoacer, 36 

Oldenburg, 246 

Orleans, 34, 270, 271 

Ostrogoths, The, 29, 31, 37 

Otto I., Emperor (the Great), 61, 62 

Otto II., Emperor, 63 

Otto III., Emperor, 63, 64 

Ottokar II. (King of Bohemia), 90 

Oudenarde, Battle of, 160 


Palatinate, The, 140, 153, 156 
Palermo, 79 
Palestine, 74, 76, 79, 80 
Pampeluna, 50 
Papal Stntes, The, 192 
Pappenheim, General. 143, 146 
Paris. 38, 189, 198, 218-226, 236, 243, 
260-271, 275 
Parma, 242 

Particularists, The, 2"8 
Passau, Treaty of, 133 
Paul I. of Russia, 192, 193 
Pavia, 48, 64, 65, 130 
Peasants’ War, The, 129 
Pepin (son of Charlemagne), 54 
Pepin of Heristal, 40 
Pepin of Landen, 40 


Pepin the Short, 45, 46 

Persia, 34, 53 

Peter III. of Russia, 175 

Philip, Archduke of Austria, 116 

Philip of Anjou, 157, 162 

Philip I of Spain, 112 

Philip II. of Spain, 134 

Piets and Scots, 30 

Pilnitz, 188 

Poitiers, 45 

Poland, 65, 66, 76, 168, 179, 180, 189, 
202, 204 

Poland, Duke of, 64 

Poland, Partitions of, 179, 190, 191 

Pollentia, Battle of, 32 

Pomerania, 142, 143, 153, 169 

Pope Adrian VI., 129 

Pope Alexander III., 76 

Pope Boniface VIII., 91 

Pope Clement VII., 129, 139 

Pope Gregory II., 64 

Pope Gregory V., 64 

Pope Gregory VII.. 68, 70 

Pope Gregory X., 88 

Pope John XXIII., 98 

Pope Leo III., 53 

Pope Leo X., 119, 122, 123, 129 

Pope Martin V., 98 

Pope Sylvester II., 63, 64 

Portugal, 157 

Potsdam, 168 

Pragmatic Sanction. The, 163 
Prague, 94, 138, 139 
Prague, University of, 98. 140, 169 
Printing, Invention of. 104 
Procopius the Great, 100 
Procopius the Little, 100 
Protestants, The, 130-136, 140, 143, 
144, 148, 163, 176 
Provisional Assembly, The, 237 
Prussia, 30, 152, 168, 175, 176, 179, 
180, 182, 188-192, 196-206, 212, 
220, 221, 226, 231-247, 253-258, 268, 
278 

Prussia, Growth of, 175-185 



Index. 


307 


Prussia, Rise and Progress of, 163-175 
Pyrenees, The, 44, 46 


Ramillies, Battle of, 158 
Reformation, The, 113, 117, 128, 129, 
131, 149 

Regensburg, Diet of, 199 

Reign of Terror, The, 185, 186, 188 

Reuss, The, 92 

Rheims, 39,104 

Rhenish Confederation, The, 199 
Rhine, The, 18, 20, 21, 27, 29, 30, 31, 34, 
50, 56, 140, 150, 153, 158, 189, 190, 

191, 216, 259 

Richard I. of England, 79 
Richelieu, Cardinal, 148 
Roland, 50 

Rome, 16, 17, 21, 28, 32, 36, 42, 46, 48, 
63, 64, 70, 73, 87, 93, 94, 98, 118, 
130, 207 

Roman Republic, The, 192 
Romagna, 242 
Roncesvalles, Pass of, 50 
Roon, General, 250 
Rossbach, 170, 172 
Rouen, 271 

Rudolph I., Emperor (of Hapsburg), 
87, 88, 90, 91 

Rudolph II., Emperor, 134, 136 
Rudolph of Suabia, 70 
Rupert of the Palatinate, 96 
Russia, 29, 168, 179, 180, 188, 189, 

192, 196, 198, 202, 204, 206, 210, 

212, 221, 228, 233, 238, 239, 240, 

241, 242, 244, 282 

Ryswick, Treaty of, 156 


Saale, The, 170 
Saarbruck, 260 
Salerno, 70 
Salzburg, 140. 163 
Sans Souci, 168, 176 
San Stefano, Treaty of, 282 
21— Ellis’ Germany. 


Saracens, The, 44, 45, 74 
Saragossa, 50 

Sardinia, 160, 162, 189, 190, 191, 242 
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 231 
Saxe-Oldenburg, 231 
Saxe-Weimar, 231 
Saxe-Weimar, Duke of, 183 
Saxons, The, 16, 29, 30, 48, 50, 52, 53, 
55, 58, 60, 67 
Saxon Heptarchy, The, 30 
Saxony, 60, 67, 128, 130, 140, 146, 148, 
166, 168, 169, 170, 203, 231, 235, 
240, 247, 248 

Saxony^Crown Prince of, 264, 268 
Saxony, House of, 57-65, 72 
Scandinavians, The, 26 
Schiller, 183, 184 
Schism of the West, 98 
Schleswig, 60, 65, 237, 244, 245, 278 
Schleswig-Holstein, 238, 245, 246, 253, 
281 

Sehoffer, Peter, 104 
Schwartz, Berthold, 106 
Schwarzenberg, 218 
Schwyz, 93 
Scotland, 134 
Sedan, 264, 266, 270 
Seidlitz, General, 170, 172 
Sempach, Battle of, 102 
Senckendorf, 183 
Seni, 146 

Sentius Saturnus, 20 
Seven Weeks’ War, The, 252 
Seven Years’ War, The, 168 
Sicilian Vespers, Massacre of, 82 
Sicily, 32, 38, 80, 90, 123, 157, 160 
Sienna, 93 
Sigebert, 38, 39 

Sigismund, Emperor (the Light of the 
World), 97, 100, 102, 166, 124 
Sigismund, King of Poland, 143 
Silesia, 138, 139, 168, 169, 174, 175, 
190, 204, 214, 248 
Silesian War, The First, 166 
Silesian War, The Second, 168 





308 


Index 


Slavs, The, 52, 56, 60 

Sluggard Kings, The, 40 

Smolensk, 210 

Sobieski, John, 154 

Social Democrats, The, 278, 282, 288 

Soissons, Diet of, 46 

Solferino, Battle of, 242 

Sorbs, The, 52 

Spain, 17, 28, 31, 50, 123, 153, 156, 
157, 160, 162,166, 175,189, 190, 191, 
192, 196, 206, 257, 258 
Sparta, 32 

Speyer (Spires), 70, 130, 156, 189 
Spicheren, 261 
St. Bernard, Pass of, 48, 195 
St. Boniface (see Winifried) 

St. Helena, Island of, 226 
St. Just, Convent of, 133 
St Marguerite, Island of, 271 
St. Peter, Church of, 53 
St. Petersburg, 243 
Steinmetz, General, 260, 261 
Stewards of the Koval Household, The, 
40 

Stralsund, 142 

Strasburg, 30, 129, 154, 156, 160, 261, 
271, 272 
Styria, 136 
Suabia, 30, 73 

Suabia, House of (see Hohenstauffen) 
Suevi, The, 16, 18, 30 
Suwarrow, General, 193 
Sweden, 29, 143, 148, 153, 156, 168, 
175, 188, 198, 204, 214 
Swiss Confederation, The, 192 
Switzerland, 29, 92, 93, 134, 149, 196, 
199 

Synod of Sutri, The, 67. 

Syria, 22 


Tacitus, 22, 24 
Talleyrand, 220, 226, 228 
Tann, General Yon der, 270 
Taunus, The, 20 


Tejas, 36, 37 
Tell, William, 92 
Tetzel, 119 

Teutoburgian Forest, The, 21 
Teutons, The, 16, 17 
Theodoric (the Great), 36, 

Thiers, M. Alphonse, 268, 275 
ThionviHe, 275 

Thirty Years’ War, The, 138, 148, 149, 
150 

Thiu (see Zin) 

Thor (see Donar) 

Thuringia, 50, 60, 90, 91, 170 

Thuringians, The, 30 

Thuringian Mountains, The, 44, 203 

Thurn, Counts of. 138 

Thusnelda, 21, 22, 26 

Tiberius, 20, 22 

Tilly, 139, 140, 143, 144 

Tilsit, Treaty of, 205 

Torgau, Battle of, 174 

Tortona, 195 

Totilas, 36, 37 

Tours, Battle of, 45 

Treaty of Paris, The First, 220, 221 

Treaty of Paris, The Second, 226 

Trent, Council of, 133 

Treves, 260 

Tribur, 70 

Triple Alliance, The, 290 
Trochu, General, 262, 267, 273 
Turenne, Marshal, 153 
Turin, 160 

Turkev, 189, 192, 241, 282 
Turks,' The, 134, 154, 181 
Tuscanv, 242 
Tyrol, 199, 207 
Tyroleans, The, 206, 207 


Ulm, 198 

Ultramontanes, The, 278, 280 
Unterwalden, 93 
Uri, 93 

Utrecht, Treaty of, 162 




Index 


309 


Valens, 31 
Valmy, 189 
Vandals, The, 31, 36 
Varus, 20, 21 
Vatican, The, 280 
Venice, 76, 199, 252 
Verdun, Treaty of, 55 
Versailles, 270, 272 
Vespasian, 27, 28 
Victor, General, 204 
Victoria, Empress of Germany, 291 
Victoria, Queen of England, 287, 291, 
292 

Vienna, 90, 94, 154, 192, 193, 196, 
199, 206, 248, 252 
Vienna, Treaty of, 206 
Villafranca, Treaty of, 242 
Vionville, 262 

Visigoths, The, 29, 31, 32, 34, 44 
Vistula, The, 29 
Vitijes, 36 

Voltaire, 168, 178, 179 
Von Moltke, Count, 250, 254, 255, 256, 
259, 260, 261, 262, 267, 268, 270, 
278, 290, 291 
Von Muhler, 278 

Vossem Treaty of Neutrality, The, 153 


Wagram, Battle of, 206 
Waldenses, The, 118 
Wallenstein, 140, 142, 143, 146, 148 
War of the Austrian Succession, The, 
180 

Wars of the Spanish Succession, The, 
157, 158, 160, 162 
Wartburg Castle, 128 
Waterloo, Battle of, 222, 224, 230 


A Weimar, 203 
Weinsburg, 73 
Weissenburg, 261 

Wellington, Duke of, 222, 224, 226 
Weis, 116 

Wenceslaus, King, 96, 97 
Werder, General, 272 
Weser, The, 20, 21 
Westphalia, 29, 140, 205, 216 
Wickliffe, John, 98 
Wickliffites, The, 118 
Wieland, 183 

Wilhelmshohe, Castle of, 267 
William I , Emperor, 242, 243, 245, 
250, 252, 257, 258, 260, 264, 268. 
275, 276, 277, 281, 284. 286. 290 
William II., Emperor, 285-288, 292, 
293 

William of Orange, 150, 156 
William II., King of Sicily, 78 
Wimpffen, General, 264 
Winifried, 42, 44 
Witikind, 50, 52 

Wittenberg, 118, 120, 122, 123, 125, 
128, 131 
Woden, 26 
Worms, 34, 124, 189 
Worms, Diet of, 112, 124, 126 
Worth, 261 

Wurtemburg, 129, 195, 198, 199, 231, 
232, 233, 235, 240, 253, 275 


Zin, 26 

Ziska, John, 100 
Zollverein, The, 235, 241 
Zuyder Zee, The, 20 


































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It is appropriate that the initial work of this series should 
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In tracing back the development of the present civilized 
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